THE BOAT

Washes of muted color against misty grey crosshatching and an elegant font soften this slightly didactic tale with its echoes of Noah and the flood. An old man lives on a hill, alone except for taking in hurt or abandoned animals of all kinds. On a nearby hill is a village that fears the old man, except for one boy who is fascinated by the man’s care for the creatures. When the heavy rains begin and threaten to engulf the old man’s menagerie, a boat appears and the boy seizes it, rowing to rescue first the animals and then the old man himself. The villagers, aroused, make rafts to rescue more, and take in the animals and the old man. When he bids them thanks, although his hill has been drowned, the rain stops and a rainbow appears. A quiet story, with images of people and landscape inspired by the artist’s home town of Portland, Dorset, England. (Picture book. 5-8)