The Magic Boat

Shy children often attach themselves to significant adults for security. It’s the wise adult who can figure out how to get the child to step away from that safety net and develop positive peer relationships.

That’s the scenario in The Magic Boat, a tale of adventure that never leaves the beach except in the imagination. Written by Governor-General Literary Award Winner Kit Pearson and her partner Katherine Farris, the The Magic Boat addresses the issue of shyness with sensitivity, providing an example with which young children will identify.

Another girl, Piper, invites Ellie to take flights of fancy on the sea, under the sea and in the air as they sit in a broken-up boat stuck in the sand. When Piper leaves for home, Ellie runs back to Nonna for company, but the grandmother tolerates Ellie’s insecurities only so long. Finally, Nonna goes back to her book, forcing Ellie to approach another child on the beach, and they begin to play.

The appealing watercolour artwork by Gabrielle Grimard shows the children on a seaside beach. When the boat becomes airborne, the open sea is shown below, along with a flock of seagulls to confirm their location. The children also encounter a red-headed vulture, a raven and a kingfisher.

The girls are fascinated by their underwater experience when the boat becomes a submarine. A young reader would be interested to see the unusual sea creatures shown on the page, especially when Pearson and Farris write, “Above them shimmered a tight herring ball.” Most children won’t know “bait balls” are formed by small fish for brief periods of time to fend off predators. An explanation worked into the text to show their amazement would be instructive.

Nonna serves the children Nanaimo bars when they take a break for a snack, pinning the location of the story to the coast of British Columbia where the chocolate and coconut brownie with the delicious buttery filling originated. It’s an unusual choice for a treat in a storybook; a description of the way the children savour the flavour would make it enticing (eating it layer by layer, smearing the chocolate icing on their faces) and a perfect, child-like way to celebrate their newfound friendship.

Grimard’s choice of soft beiges, greens and blues are appropriate to the pleasant, accurately-drawn seaside setting. Nonna is a casual grandmother, clearly relaxing at the beach, and Ellie is a pretty, timid-looking child. Piper, her new friend, is supposed to be older but looks to be the same size and age as Ellie.

The Magic Boat can be used by parents and grandparents, teachers and caregivers to plant the idea in the minds of shy children that they can venture forth in life, because life is an adventure.