The Baker by the Sea
by Paula White (Author) Paula White (Illustrator)
A lyrical, richly illustrated story explores a child's relationship with his sleepy seaside fishing town.
If you keep walking over the hills and across the fields, you will come to the edge, where the land meets the sea. And on this edge lies a village. This is my home.
In this village by the sea, a young boy notes the roles that each person in town plays. Everyone is busy: the blacksmith, the boatbuilder, the baker. But most important of all, the boy thinks, are the fishermen who bring in the catch, braving the waves and windy weather to return with the finest, freshest fish. His father is a baker, but the boy wants to be a daring fisherman when he grows up, undaunted by the stormy seas. "Have you ever been to sea?" the boy asks his father. Surely sailing out on the wet and wild waves to feed the town is the most meaningful job of all. More meaningful than a baker.
In this softly drawn look at an enduring way of life, Paula White provides a timeless reminder that everyone--and every role--is essential, no matter how small or quiet they may seem.
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K-Gr 4--The baker's son wants to make a difference in his town, but how? As his quaint town survives on resources from the sea, he idolizes the fishermen and the hard work they do. He wishes to be a fisherman when he grows up, and asks his father, a baker, why he did not become one. As the story progresses, his father explains that many people in the town have important jobs to do and that they all rely on each other. He stresses the importance of working together for the whole town to strive. Children may relate to the baker's son and his belief that some jobs look more glamorous than others. The author' note at the beginning explains the motivation for the book, which will surely strike a chord with readers. The illustrations, using a minimum of colors and creative pencil and ink drawings, complement and enhance the tale. The story unfolds slowly and deliberately but rewards careful readers. This would make a nice story hour pairing with Matt de la Peña's Last Stop on Market Street. VERDICT A wonderfully written story about community and how we all have a role to play.--Elena Schuck
Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Publishers Weekly
Billowy spreads in blues and grays evoke the waves and clouds and salty air of a coastal village, portrayed with light-skinned residents, where the young narrator describes life in alliterative prose-poetry: "Everyone works hard by the sea." The fishermen, boatbuilders, sailmakers, net-makers, and "the Scotch fisher-girls" who "prepare, pack, and pickle the fish" all work out of doors, no matter the weather. In this debut by White, artwork in pencil and ink evokes an era when a community joined hands to secure its livelihood, a vision embraced by the narrator, who dreams of a future at sea: "On the boat we will work together,/ handling, hoisting, and heaving the ropes,/ ready for our biggest catch." But the narrator's father, the village baker, creates "bread, buns, and biscuits." Why, the child wonders, did he choose "to be just a baker?" The father's answer, and his pride in his work, changes the child's perspective. With some of the poignant resonance of Town Is by the Sea, White's tale pays witness to the importance of a community's inter workings. Ages 3-7. (Nov.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
JUV050000 - Juvenile Fiction | Cooking & Food
JUV041020 - Juvenile Fiction | Transportation | Boats, Ships, & Underwater Craft
Fathers and sons
Picture books
Families
Boys
Fishing villages
