THE FIRST BOAT

Colorful folk art–style illustrations decorate Nobel winner Saramago’s meditation on what might have inspired the creation of the first boat.

The third-person narration, translated from Spanish, begins with a nameless man who sits beside the sea and watches the ocean’s waves and tides. Saramago then refers to the hunger that has brought the man there: “The food that the earth so often denied him…the sea offered him in abundance.” A list of the attributes necessary to successfully harvest that bounty follows, including help from others. More people arrive, but some are frightened by the sea’s force. By the end, however, all have gathered by the ocean’s edge to participate in building the titular boat. Lengthy sentences are graceful and alliterative, but their challenging vocabulary and often complex structure may confound listeners. The relative lack of action is also likely to limit the book’s appeal. Observation and imagination are undoubtedly valuable to both individuals and society, but their depiction here feels too abstract to rouse much interest. Mijangos’ illustrations, by contrast, are warm and lively. Brightly dressed figures, childlike in their simplicity and diverse in skin tone, swarm across the page, while the ocean swirls with life in shades of blue. Unfortunately, even the recurring appearance of a pigtailed child in a red dress doesn’t seem likely to engage young listeners’ attention.

Erudite adults may appreciate this adaptation, but it’s hard to imagine a child audience embracing it.