THE OLD WOMAN AND THE WAVE

In this story of deliverance from Jackson, a curmudgeonly old woman discovers her liquid neighbor has greater things on its mind than raindrops and the occasional proffered fish. The old woman in question lives in a house at the foot of a perpetually standing wave. The sun gives the wave a glorious light and swallows play in its tangled crest, but the old woman only sees a nemesis: She has built a washtub boat in case the wave falls, scolds her dog, Bones, for playing in the water, and plants umbrellas on her roof in a vain attempt to ward off the wave's droplets. A stranger makes her see the possibilities the wave offers, and the old woman sails off for uncharted waters. Artful collage paintings, with snippets of maps to conjure terrae incognitae, allow the text to achieve its oblique promise of transcendence in the sudden, severe breach of routine. (Picture book. 6-9)