ACROSS THE WIDE DARK SEA

The journey on the Mayflower and the first winter and spring in Plymouth are narrated with poetic precision by an anonymous boy, whom Van Leeuwen (Bound for Oregon, 1994, etc.) subsequently identifies as the son of William Brewster, the religious leader of the colony. The boy's account of the passage and the settlement of Plymouth is a slow, carefully worded description: facts, lyrically stated. The movement of the narrative is wonderfully channeled by the pictures—charcoal, pastel, and colored pencil drawings, on paper that is ragged around the edges. These illustrations are deliberately sketchy, with isolated details coming into focus in a way that parallels the precision of the text. This elegant picture book offers readers an imaginative way of thinking about and rediscovering the Mayflower experience. (Picture book. 6-10)