| Title | : | The Sea Serpent and Me |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0618723943 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780618723942 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 38 |
| Publication | : | First published May 19, 2008 |
The Sea Serpent and Me Reviews
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Loved this imaginative, sweet story about a young girl who finds a baby sea serpent in her bathtub. As the sea serpent grows, their friendship develops; as does the obviousness that the sea serpent cannot stay in the girl's bathroom forever. This has one of those bittersweet endings where I felt like cheering and crying at the same time as it shows the enduring bond of friendship and the selflessness true friends show for one another. The illustrations are charming and magical. A winner!
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"On Tuesday, as I was about to climb into the bath, a sea serpent dropped out of the faucet and into the tub," begins this magically matter-of-fact story which, when paired with Catia Chien's charming watercolor artwork, makes for a delightful picture-book that deserves to be better known. Dashka Slater demonstrates considerable skill in crafting her narrative, with hardly a word out of place in a brief text that still manages to evoke the strong sense of love that develops between girl and creature, and the conflicting desires of both: for freedom, for safety, for friendship, for solitary wandering in the vastness of the deep ocean. The conclusion, in which the two have essentially swapped emotional roles - now it's the sea serpent who is clinging to the girl, rather than the other way around - has real pathos, while also offering a natural and satisfying resolution.
The illustrations perfectly capture the dreamy quality of the story, and the changeable nature of its two characters' feelings. Whether it be the girl's realization of the sea serpent's eventual size - "Oh," I said. That big." - paired with a depiction of the sea serpent towering over some houses, or their bittersweet goodbye, in which the girl reaches up to touch her now humongous friend, the visual and textual narratives work together in The Sea Serpent and Me, making it an excellent example of true picture-book craft. Very, very well-done! I will definitely be looking for more of Ms. Slater's work! -
Of course I love it -- I wrote it! And I'm delighted that it was a finalist for a
Cybil award as well as being a Junior Library Guild Selection. It is also on the Librarians' Choices list of the 100 best books for children and young adults for 2008. You can find whole lot of terrific
reviews plus a free
teacher's guide, and suggestions of sea serpent
crafts and
activities on my website:
www.dashkaslater.com. I'll be hosting a Q&A soon -- watch for it! -
A sweet story with lovely water-color illustrations.
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On Tuesday a tiny sea serpent drops into a little girl's bathtub. He was tiny, and beautiful, they played together, and at night he slept in the fish tank next to her bed. A tornado had swept the tiny creature into the clouds, where he floated over "green jungles and silvery cities" to finally fall with the rain into a lake in which there was a pipe that "whooshed him along and splashed him down into my tub." The little girl knows her new friend misses the sea because that is where he belongs. She promises to take him back, unfortunately every day is too rainy to go down to the beach. But every day they wait for clear skies is another day that the sea serpent grows bigger. They play and have indoor adventures together and at night the serpent tells the girl about his life in the sea:
That night as I lay in bed he sang
me a song about the deep blue sea,
Where manta rays swim like dancing blankets
and there are crabs with antlers
and fish shaped like guitars.
As the week passes she learns that one day her friend will grow as "big as the ocean is deep, and as long as the current is strong." He eventually is too big for the fish tank and must sleep in the bath tub. He wishes that he could still sleep next to the little girl's bed. In turn, she hears the sea serpents song, and hopes that tomorrow will be sunny, but hopes that it will also rain.
Eventually he is almost too big to carry to the beach, but once she thought about it she decided that "the rain (wasn't) any wetter than the ocean." She takes him to the shore, and he shows off how big he's become. They played together, riding "the waves as if they were horses and (floating) as gently as stars in the sky." All the while the little girl remembers when he was once so small she could hold him in her hand. When they need to part, because sea serpents need oceans and people need dry clothes and dinner, her friend begins to think that he's not big enough for the ocean, and maybe should stay with the girl.
"I'm very big," he said. "But the sea's a lot
bigger. Maybe I should stay with you."
I stroked his neck and almost said yes.
But soon he'd be as big as a wave,
and I knew he'd be happiest in the sea.
"I'll stay right here," I told him.
"I'll wait till you're ready."
The girl tells him of all the things he will grow to do and see and the friends he will make. Eventually he was ready to go, they parted with love, and that night she fell asleep to the song of the ocean, and maybe the sea serpent's song too.
This is a lovely story about friendship, growing up, and even though our places in the world might be different, grow and change, love still ties us together. (Terribly sappy, I know, but the book has made me cry.)
Verdict:
This kinder, gentler version of "Puff The Magic Dragon" might make me cry, but it isn't as sad or regretful as the song. (In my defense, I didn't cry until, like, the fifth reading!) In fact, it reminds me a lot of my dad, who will occasionally wonder out loud how he used to hold me in one arm and my feet didn't even reach his hand. It would have been a great book for my mom to give me when I left for college instead of the traditional Oh! They Places You'll Go!. It's right up her ally, all mushy but loving and sweet. I love the lyrical writing, so simple but so expressive. The illustrations are a whimsical mix of styles in soothing blues with dashes of warm yellows and greens. While I normally gush about illustrations, these aren't what I typically like, but I think they're just right for this book. I'll be buying this book for myself, maybe save it for The Kid when he leaves home (though the story is accessible to younger children). I think I'll send a copy to Dad, too. I give it 5 stars. -
This book was fun with great illustrations. Nothing breathtaking. Just nice. -- original rating 3 stars --
7/14/15
It's funny how our opinions change over time. I didn't even remember reading this. I was surprised when I found it already here on my lists. Obviously, I didn't enjoy it the first time. This time, though, I was having a hard time reviewing it because I love it so much. This tall tale feels real and immediate somehow. I believe any day-dreaming kid will fall for this sweet little story. I sure did.
As good readers always should, I just went and read the back flap. Turns out, the author wrote the first draft of this story when she was ten years old. Many years later, as an established writer, she honed it and turned it into this very book. No wonder it seems so immediate - a child wrote it and an adult perfected it.
-- new rating 5 stars --
Classroom Connection
So many of my students write flights-of-fancy style stories similar to this one. The Sea Serpent and Me will be an excellent one-on-one mentor text for them. -
A story of friendship beautifully told and illustrated. The little girl and sea serpent become close friends and confidants, but they both know that their time together is limited, as, "people need towels, and dry clothes, and dinner, and sea serpents belong in the sea". A lovely story about the sacrifices friends sometimes need to make. And really, who hasn't dreamed of having a sea serpent for a pet?
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This book tells an adorable story of a loving and unlikely relationship between a little girl and a sea serpent. I really enjoyed the way this book portrayed something that is usually feared and avoided (sea serpents) and brought it into a new light, which is a lesson that can be taken into other contexts as well. The story tells of a little girl who finds a baby sea serpent in her bathtub, raises him until he grows far too big for her fish tank, and takes him to the sea to say goodbye. The pages are, for the most part, completely covered in blue and green illustrations, which represents the water that the sea serpent lives in and where the girl and the sea serpent play. The text in the book is portrayed in normal paragraphs on some pages, and on other pages the text is curved or indented all the way down the page, which adds character and personality to the words. I would definitely recommend this book as a read aloud in a classroom setting or to young children.
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Super cute story infused with just the right balance of humor and sentiment. Slater subverts the traditional parent/child role by compressing time and allowing the child character to experience the pangs of watching someone they are close to grow up and become independent. Simple and clear, with lovely illustrations.
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Super sweet story of friendship between a little girl and her ever-growing sea serpent. When she takes him back to the ocean, they have a tender parting. A charming story with lovely descriptions of ocean life. Perfect for kids who are going to school for the first time (and their parents), or experiencing any stage of increasing independence.
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I loved the watercolor illustrations (so appropriate for a creature of water) and the theme of growth and letting wild things go (like sea serpents, and oh, maybe children!) and how the child was clearly well loved and in a safe home but we never see anyone around her.
The final pages, where the serpent hesitates and is reassured and then loved and missed, are wonderful. -
Lyrical text and lovely story bring to life a friendship between a girl and a sea serpent that can serve as a metaphor for parents watching their children grow up and move on. Highly recommended for kindergarten and up.
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I really love Catia Chief’s artwork! Beautiful, expressive, and playful. Very charming. Dashka Slater’s story was fun, too—it was pretty cute that the story was adapted from one they wrote when they were ten years old.
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Sweet story with a message of it's okay to let someone go for their own good. Reminded me of sending my kids off on their own adventures. I was a little teary eyed and my 11 year old cried.
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I'm not crying, you're crying!
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I love this book so much.
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Cute story that makes you a tiny bit sad to say good bye at the end. Illustrations are ok, but I have enjoyed the art in her other books more.
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It’s cute story... it has days of the week learning as well.
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I’m not crying, you’re crying.
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Delightful watercolor painted artwork and an imaginative story about a sea serpent who becomes friends with a girl after randomly landing in her bathtub.
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5 stars for the illustrations, the story was just ok.
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Absolutely beautiful illustrations and a poetical story to accompany them.
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This book was about an unlikely friendship between a child and their pet. I loved all of the descriptive imagery and the passions that was illustrated through the pictures. The illustrator did a great job at expressing emotional parts through the images, especially at the end of the book!
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Dammit, Catia Chien, the talent on you!
