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Reviewed by: Bye Land, Bye Sea by René Spencer Amanda Toledo Spencer, René Bye Land, Bye Sea; by René Spencer and Rodolfo Montalvo; illus. by Rodolfo Montalvo. Roaring Brook, 2024 40p Trade ed. ISBN 9781250246721 19. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* 3-7 yrs Our protagonists are lost: a Spanish-speaking boy is stranded on an island, and, separately, an English-speaking girl is making her way through a storm on the water, eventually bringing her blue and white tugboat ashore. The two warily approach each other after initially running away, but their attempts to communicate with each other fail—until they are able to connect through the universal language of play and exploration, cavorting along the beach, sailing into a storm, getting separated, and navigating back to each other. The text is sparse, each character narrating their parallel experiences in their language, but with the depth of the illustrations, it could be as gripping a picture book as Becker's Journey (BCCB 10/13). Varying perspectives add to the ambience of witnessing an epic tale, with the landscapes and action unfolding across the full spreads, while other scenes are more tightly contained, seen through the lens of binoculars or telescopes. Montalvo's art is a feast for the eyes: the watercolors and shading of the land, sea, and sky offer a gauzy ethereal feel, while the two characters have a more tangible appearance, their bodies fully colored in. Montalvo's use of shading invites sitting and pouring over each page, the light of a setting sun on a rock as captivating as the children sailing through a storm, suspense-building compositions split by a lightning strike. The text and artwork together create a sense of an adventurous dream, making this a perfect fit for a bedtime story or lapsit. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Amanda Toledo (Tue,) studied this question.