Sea Lights is a novelty bedtime story that uses paper engineering to ‘light up’ different elements on each spread. The book is sturdy and includes wheels, flaps and sliders to illuminate the pages. It’s a gentle, calming story about the different lights that guide a little girl and her dad through an evening’s fishing.
The Story: A girl, her father and their dog go fishing. Once their net is full they follow various different kinds of light to get home.
This seaside story portrays a close relationship between the little girl and her father who set out on a starry moonlit night which turns stormy. But throughout the book there is light, whether it is the natural light of the moon, the sweeping beam of the lighthouse or a candle in a window. And at the end of the story there are various lights around as Dad tucks his sleepy daughter into bed with her dog.
Much of the story is told through Carolina Rabei’s beautiful illustrations with their blue backgrounds. They portray elements of a traditional seaside town with beach huts, cobbled streets and clifftop houses as well as wildlife – dolphins and puffins.
Each double spread has just four simple sentences including a final, repetitive sentence which refers to the kind of light that is guiding the characters home. Turning the pages causes the picture to move and ‘turns’ the lights on.
Carolina Rabei’s atmospheric illustrations dominate the page and we love the way that the story starts wordlessly at dusk on the first endpaper. The stars watch over the characters on this first spread and can be made to twinkle by moving the page.
Sea Lights would be a great book to stimulate a conversation about night fishing, the sea and different kinds of light sources. Its simple repetitive text makes it an ideal picture book for a beginner reader.
Age Range: 4 +
Author: Ruth Symons / Illustrator: Carolina Rabei
Thank you to Templar Books for sending a copy of this beautiful book. We love the way that this gentle story is so interactive.
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