My Life with the Wave

by Catherine Cowan, Mark Buehner (Illustrator)

Overview

My first trip to the seashore,

one wave tore away from the sea.

She caught my hand, and we raced

away together across the sand.

Based on a story by Nobel Prize laureate Octavio Paz, this delightful tale of a boy and his pet wave is charmingly retold with beautiful new illustrations. See if you can find the hidden cat, dog, mouse, whale, and sea horse in almost every picture!

Ages 3 – 8

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060562007
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/02/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Catherine Cowan is the author of My Friend the Piano. She lives with her husband and six shedding, purring cats in Long Beach, California.

Marl Buehner has six little pilgrims of his own in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lives with his wife, Caralyn, and their children: Heidi, Grant, Sarah, Samuel, Laura, and Jake. Mark has illustrated many wonderful children's books, including I Am the Cat by Alice Schertle and Harvy Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen.

Editorial Reviews

A boy creates his own endless summer when he brings home a wave from the family's beach vacation in this fantasy based on a story by Nobel laureate Paz. "Paired with the expert text," said PW in a starred review, "Buehner's larger-than-life depictions of the free-spirited wave sweep readers away to their own imaginary shores." Ages 3-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

A boy creates his own endless summer when he brings home a wave from the family's beach vacation in this splashy fantasy based on a story by Nobel laureate Paz. The wave adores her new surroundings, spraying foam as she rushes through the household, floating with the boy and rocking him to sleep. But nature takes its course as the wave's moods turn out to be as "changeable as the tide." Her wild and unpredictable behavior spells the end of the wave's landlocked days, and as soon as winter weather freezes her solid, "a beautiful statue of ice," the distressed family returns her to the ocean where she belongs. Cowan's fluid adaptation is suffused with emotion. Within the framework of a fantastic tale, she successfully introduces the larger idea of humans' age-old struggle to find a balance between taming nature and coexisting with it. Any child who has caught a lightning bug or befriended a stray puppy will identify with the protagonist here. Buehner's (The Adventures of Taxi Dog) forceful oil-and-acrylic paintings offer views from above and below the action, conveying the blue-green wave's power and movement. And as lagniappe, a tiny surfing mouse, Scottie dog, cat, sea horse and other creatures are hidden throughout the artwork. Paired with the expert text, Buehner's larger-than-life depictions of the free-spirited wave sweep readers away to their own imaginary shores. Ages 5-up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 4Exhilirated by his first trip to the seashore, a young boy decides to capture a wave and bring it home. In this adaptation of an adult short story by Octavio Paz, Cowan uses language that dances along with the young protagonist as the wave floods the rooms of his house. At first, the boy and the wave enjoy a special friendship. Soon, however, he and his parents discover that the wave, subject to moods that change with the tides, has to go back to the ocean. At the end of the story, the child daydreams about bringing home a cloud, as ominous shapes appear in a patch of sky glimpsed through a window. Buehner uses acrylic and oil paints in richly colored, dramatic spreads to capture this flight of fancy. In one memorable scene, the boy wraps his arms around the wave, in the form of a geyserlike shower, in a loving embrace. In this spread, flashes of humor become more noticeablea cat and dog sit under an umbrella, while a tiny mouse peeks out from a sailboat on the mantel. Buehner inserts small details with such skill that they do not overpower or detract from the main story. Storytime audiences will be delighted by this unusual friendship and then awestruck by the mighty force of the wave, the power of which is revealed in a double spread of crashing surf and swirling sea monsters. A celebration of imagination from beginning to end.Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA

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