The Voyage

September 9, 2013
In a story first published in Norway, Salinas describes acclimating to life in a new country—or perhaps just to growth and change in general—in dreamy, metaphorical terms. The story’s events happen to the “you” of a second-person narrative: “And you land someplace. You think it’s strange there.” Engman does a yeoman’s job of creating a visual world from an abstract text. Her digitally colored drawings of naïf-style animals supply much of the story’s warmth. She draws a duck in a knit cap who’s blown by a gale to a place whose plants and trees look like alien life forms and whose animals don’t understand anything the duck says. Discouragement is followed by tears until a friendly duck appears, “someone who looks a little like you.” The two ducks understand each other, and eventually the speech of the other animals becomes familiar, too. Salinas’s musings on the subject of change will resonate especially with those who’ve had to move to a new home or immigrate to another country. Others may be baffled by the story’s enigmatic language. Ages 4–7.

September 15, 2013
A little duck acts as a stand-in for the immigrant experience in this title about change, loss and redemption. Despite a glaring design flaw in the too-small type chosen for the text, this story about a duck's journey from one place to another applies a deft touch to a complex topic for young readers. The direct address of the text ("Maybe one day you have to leave") juxtaposed with pictures of the duck packing belongings and being "blown so far that you forget who you are and where you come from" is quite effective in aligning readers with the bird. These scenes lead up to encounters with various animals who speak to the duck, baffling it, as it can't understand what they say. Feelings of alienation and sadness overcome the duck, with digitally colored art bolstering the text's description. Things look up when another duck, presumably native to the new land but an outsider in another way, befriends the protagonist by offering validation and comfort. This turning point ultimately affirms the need for a strong sense of self to precede the development of stability in a new place and community. An effective story, unique in its treatment of the immigrant or refugee experience as it addresses a younger audience than might be typical for this topic. (Picture book. 3-7)

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February 1, 2014

K-Gr 2-Originally published in Norway, this offering opens with the cryptic sentences, "Maybe one day you have to leave. And you are blown so far that you forget who you are and where you came from." What purports to be a story about knowing oneself and adapting to change will likely leave young readers scratching their heads. The central character, a brown duck, is blown far from home and lands in the woods where, initially, he sits down calmly and eats his lunch. But as time passes and nothing happens, he begins to wander around and asks a fly, a fish, and a mouse, "Do you know who I am?" Because they are different species, he cannot understand their answers, so he sits down on a rock and cries. Finally, along comes another duck who says, "You are who you are," and suddenly the brown duck understands everything and can speak to anyone, even after the wind inevitably returns and blows his new friend away. The hand-drawn and digitally colored illustrations in muted woodland tones are the best part of this book and bring at least a modicum of humor and charm to the heavy-handed text. Simple layered shapes representing trees and rocks are placed against a pale backdrop like paper cutouts, while the graphically rendered animals have a flat, modern quality that allows interesting details to shine. This book would benefit from being entirely wordless, allowing these approachable characters to tell a much more straightforward tale of feeling lost and being found through small acts of friendship. Unfortunately, the words just get in the way.-Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library

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