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Over the Ocean

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Over the Ocean

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Overview

2017 Mildred L. Batchelder Award Winner

Renowned children's book creator Taro Gomi has created another masterpiece. In this beautiful testament to wondering, a young girl gazes out to where the water meets the sky and wonders what lies beyond the waves. Boats filled with toys? Skyscrapers filled with people? Houses filled with families? Or, maybe, over the ocean stands someone not so different from the girl herself, returning her gaze. In this celebration of imagination's power, young readers will find joy in the mystery of the faraway, the unknown, and the just-beyond.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452145150
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	05/17/2016
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Taro Gomi has created more than 350 books for readers of all ages, including Bus Stops, My Friends, Spring Is Here, Scribbles, and Doodles. He lives in Tokyo, Japan.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

02/29/2016
A girl who stands at the ocean’s shore, her back to readers, doesn’t move one iota in this breezy story, first published in Japan in 1979 and rooted in a familiar question: “What is over the ocean?” The girl’s imagination makes repeated leaps across the sea as Gomi (Bus Stops) follows the question with a string of hypothetical answers and further questions, tacitly inviting readers to embellish the girl’s guesses with their own. Though none of the musings is outlandish (“Maybe there are big farms. Maybe there are cities over the ocean”), Gomi’s bold, woodblock-like pictures bring a visual whimsy to each setting. The bottom third of each spread remains static, showing the girl on a stretch of beach beneath a swath of turquoise water; above, however, is a shifting landscape of imagined scenarios, including striped and checkerboard skyscrapers, a tableau of kids zipping around on amusement-park rides, and a menagerie of stylized animals. Attentive readers can enjoy not just the explicit questions but ones raised by tiny details like the ocean liner slowly crossing the horizon or the hot-air balloon taking flight in the final scene. Ages 2–4. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Readers can enjoy not just the explicit questions but ones raised by tiny details."-Publishers Weekly

"Readers can enjoy not just the explicit questions but ones raised by tiny details."-Publishers Weekly

"Makes for smooth sailing and good reading."—BookPage

"Makes for smooth sailing and good reading."—BookPage

"The llustrations look simple but can still say so much."—Geek Dad

"The llustrations look simple but can still say so much."—Geek Dad

"With sharp shapes and a riot of color, the prolific Gomi's simple premise should spark young imaginations."-Kirkus Reviews

"With sharp shapes and a riot of color, the prolific Gomi's simple premise should spark young imaginations."-Kirkus Reviews

"A warm, inviting, and meditative celebration of imagination and wonder."-Booklist

"A warm, inviting, and meditative celebration of imagination and wonder."-Booklist

"Elegant simplicity."-School Library Journal

"Elegant simplicity."-School Library Journal

From the Publisher

11/01/2016
PreS-Gr 1-A dark-haired child in red overalls clasps hands behind his or her back while gazing at vistas of the ocean and wondering what might be beyond it. Each page turn leads readers to the child's imaginative speculation about farms, cities, bullies, amusement parks, exotic animals, and even a beach where another child mirrors the narrator's actions. A constant on the horizon is a steamer progressing along the page from right to left. Spare text and vibrant color are typical of Gomi's mood pieces. VERDICT The book's elegant simplicity lends itself not only to pointing out visual details but also to encouraging a listening child's own speculations. Perfect for one-on-one and small group sharing.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

School Library Journal

2016-01-20
The world's diversity is depicted in a series of colorful, geometrical pictures. The bottom third of each double-page spread shows the same serene blue ocean and a little long-haired child in red overalls staring out at it, facing away from readers. Three white gulls fly overhead as the child wonders, "What is over the ocean?" On progressive pages the child imagines the multiple answers to that question: scores of ships filling the water, big farms and tall city buildings (both in rainbow colors), playfully leaping animals, a town of tightly packed little houses, the faces of children of many races and ethnicities, and then those children frolicking on a variety of fair attractions. "Is there night over the ocean?" the child muses, as the dark sky over the water fills with stars in curlicue patterns. The narrator then imagines a night-lit city made entirely of ice, a beach on the opposite side of the ocean that mirrors the one readers see, then a parallel someone standing next to a rainbow and also staring at the ocean…or staring back at the narrator? In the final picture, the child still stares at the ocean while a second, almost identical child (clad in green overalls) sails high into the sky inside the basket of a big striped balloon. The narrating child never moves, but the image is saved from stasis by both the changing view and the child's long, wind-swept dark hair blowing to the side. With sharp shapes and a riot of color, the prolific Gomi's simple premise should spark young imaginations. (Picture book. 3-6)

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Over the Ocean

Over the Ocean

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