Over the Ocean

February 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.

February 1, 2016
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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November 1, 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

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2016
Grades K-2 A kid sporting red overalls and facing away from the reader looks out over a serene, minimalist beach scene, all horizontal lines and slight ruffles of waves. What is over the ocean? the child wonders, and in each subsequent two-page spread, Gomi reveals the imagined possibilities, rendered in rich, saturated watercolor tones in the sky, while the beach below remains the same on each spread. As the pages progress, the kid's imagination becomes wilder. Are there fairs over the ocean? appears below a scene of myriad children on bright, fanciful carnival rides. Gradually, the child wonders whether there's someone else on a beach far away, and the sky reveals a similar kid in blue overalls gazing over the ocean. The spare text, wide horizontal swaths of color, and the child's motionless pose throughout give the book a contemplative, faintly somber feel, and if Gomi's sumptuous watercolor paintings look old-fashioned, it's because they areoriginally published in Japan in 1979, this marks the book's first translation into English. A warm, inviting, and meditative celebration of imagination and wonder.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)