This absorbing picture book can be read in all sorts of ways. It opens in the cosy setting of a family kitchen, with grandpa and child making brightly coloured paper boats at the table. They are very appealing characters, cat-like with whiskers and tails.
Little One-Button asks Grandpa to tell the story of when they went to sea and Grandpa does, starting with the moment everyone called, ‘To the boats!’. He describes days at sea, everyone singing to keep their spirits high (One-Button loudest of all), sailing through storms and sad times but with friends alongside, until the trees called them back home.
Sara Stanley’s lyrical text gives it all the feel of a fable and the journey could be lots of things, the account of a voyage from danger to a new home, a metaphor for the loss of a loved one, or for any kind of serious change.
Viviane Schwarz’s idiosyncratic illustrations reflect the changes in mood while maintaining a sense of freedom and of things moving forward and are filled with intriguing characters having mini adventures of their own. This will be an exceptionally rewarding book to share.
Grandpa, tell me the story again of when we went to sea. That’s a BIG story, One-Button. How does it begin? It begins with the uprooting . . .
And so Grandpa tells the story of how he and One-Button and their whole community were uprooted from their everyday lives, and how they all had to take to sea in different boats. Until one day everything changed, and they were able to return home and resume their previous lives…different, but the same.
Going to sea is a metaphor for so many topical traumas: refugees, flooding, lockdown, bereavement. A wonderful tool to help enable a conversation about a difficult topic - can be understood at any level, depending on the response of the reader.
'A beautiful resonant fable about memory, love and hope – brought to life with luminous illustrations’ - Chris Riddell
Author
About Sara Stanley
Sara Stanley is an Early Years Consultant specialising in philosophical storyplay in the UK and South Africa. Having spent time working with displaced families in Northern France she now works as a bookseller.
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