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Summary
Summary
Written in a spare, lyrical style using fresh, evocative imagery, Village by the Sea tells the story of longing for the comforts of home. A perfect book for teaching about diverse cultures and lifestyles through rich pictures and words, moving from the wide world to the snugness of home and back out again.
Author Notes
Muon Van was born on the run in the southern port city of Rach Gia, Vietnam. When she was nine months old, she left Vietnam as part of the "boat people" mass exodus. She now lives in Northern California.
April Chu began her career as an architect with a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, but decided to return to her true passion of illustrating and storytelling. She recalls spending most of her childhood drawing whimsical characters in her notebook after school everyday, and she hasn't stopped drawing ever since. April currently lives and works in Oakland, CA. This is the second picture book she has illustrated. For more information, visit Aprilchu.com.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-This is a magical story set in Vietnam, with moody and emotive illustrations. With a classical storytelling structure and lyrical text, the narrative describes a fisherman at sea thinking of his home, as the images draw viewers in closer and closer, first to the house, then to the kitchen, and onward until finally they focus on a tiny brown cricket in a tiny hole painting a tiny picture of the very same fisherman at sea dreaming of home while waiting out a scary storm. The illustrations are lovely, with an amazing use of perspective, changing the viewpoint on every page and conveying the simple tale of a fisherman longing for the warm home, wife, baby, and dog that are waiting for him. The text pairs beautifully with the detail of the images, which offer plenty to pore over. VERDICT A delightful and quiet read that effectively evokes the book's setting.-Sharon McKellar, Oakland Public Library, CA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Artist Chu (Summoning the Phoenix) and first-time author Van transport readers to a small seaside village. Opening with a scene of fishermen at work beside cliffs where a house is nestled ("In a fishing village by the sea/ there is a small house"), Van's circular, incantatory writing closes in on the house ("In that house,/ high above the waves,/ is a kitchen"), where a woman cooks, a dog explores, and a baby rests. Skillfully using a variety of visual perspectives, Chu's delicately detailed and colored illustrations invite close study; the fishermen's nets have a gauzy translucence, and papery garlic bulbs, veiny basil leaves, and softly glowing lanterns are all drawn with naturalistic care. As Van directs readers down a hole in the corner of the room, the story shifts into fantasy-beneath the floorboards, a cricket paints a majestic picture of a stormy sea, in which a fisherman (previously seen in the opening pages) longs to return to the woman and child in the hillside home. A lovely, resonant portrait of family life that hums with quiet magic. Ages 4-10. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
In circular fashion, this simple story's narration unfolds, with great power behind the few words on each page. The intense illustrations, done in pencil and digitally colored, set human and animal characters into seascapes and interior scenes in an almost timeless Vietnam and extend the story far beyond the words. A wife and a baby are in their traditional kitchen anxiously awaiting the fisherman-husband's return. He is in his boat, fearfully viewing the dark waves and black clouds but also looking at family photos (a hint of modernity). Will he get home to his wife and baby "in his village by the sea" in the "small house" mentioned at beginning and end? Of course readers hope that he will, but there's far more to this book than just the story. The visual surprises here are a faithful, loving dog that appears in most illustrations and leads eyes to "a brown cricket, humming and painting" beyond a hole in the wall. This is not just any cricket but perhaps illustrator Chu's avatar. After all, the cricket is seen painting the scene of the stormy seas and the little white fishing boat with the husband sitting nervously on the deck. Near the author and artist biographies, the cricket is even signing "AC." The illustrations, with strong references to Chinese pen-and-ink landscapes and Japanese woodblock prints of the sea, will draw readers to this book again and again. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
