The Sea Serpent and Me by Dashka Slater, Catia Chien (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

When a tiny sea serpent tumbles from the bathtub faucet, a little girl finds an unexpected friend. As rainy day after rainy day passes, the two sing songs, take baths, and talk about the sea.
But little girls live on land, and a growing sea serpent needs wave upon wave of water.
Here's a story about the true meaning of friendship, perfect for children, parents, and anyone who has ever had second thoughts about growing up.

Children's Literature

A tiny sea serpent drops out of the faucet as our young narrator climbs into her bathtub. They play happily together, and then she puts him in her fish tank. He tells her of his wild journey to her tub and how he misses his home in the sea. Bad weather prevents her from taking him back that day or the next. Meanwhile, he keeps growing, while singing and telling her of the wonders of the sea. She finally decides that, rain or no rain, she must take him to the shore before he gets too big to carry. There, they swim and float together. With regret, but realizing it is for the best, he says goodbye and she returns home, listening for his singing in the sound of the sea. Chien's acrylic and charcoal pencil illustrations are fluid, more suggestive of shapes than detailed and naturalistic. We feel the joy as the girl and serpent play together in the tub, and it seems we almost get wet from their splashing. We sense the growth, but are surprised at the double-page illustration of the serpent seeming to cover rooftops as he describes how big he may get. The scenes in the sea prepare us for the inevitable separation, as images of future interactions with sea creatures—even singing with a trio of whales—hint at a possible reunion. The jacket introduces our jaunty heroine and her friend, while the cover pictures her examining some of the imagined sea creatures of this charming fantasy. Reviewer: Ken and Sylvia Marantz

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2- A child narrates her experiences with a friendly sea serpent in this quietly quirky book. The creature drops out of the bathtub faucet while the girl is bathing and the two immediately begin playing and splashing. She puts him in the aquarium next to her bed and, as they converse, she discovers how he ended up in her bathtub and that he longs to return to the sea. She is determined to take him back, but the next day it's too rainy to go out. After a few more days of precipitation, the serpent, who has grown too big for the tub, points out, "the rain isn't any wetter than the ocean," and they decide to make the trek. At the shore, the serpent is reluctant to leave his friend, but she gently assures him that his new adventures in the ocean will be spectacular. The lovely watercolor illustrations are lush with vivid blues and greens, and the bathtub and underwater scenes are full of movement and life. The impressionistic paintings allow readers to fill in details. The text flows well and highlights the strong bond between the child and the serpent, a bond that will hold even when they are oceans apart. A great choice for one-on-one sharing, and as a bedtime story.-Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN

Kirkus Reviews

This whimsical look at the friendship between a young female narrator and a fast-growing sea serpent will amuse young listeners while providing adult readers with the bittersweet opportunity to ponder the ways relationships grow and change. Smaller than the girl's arm, the sea serpent shows up unexpectedly one day in the bath. He quickly outgrows his tank, then the tub, all the while talking longingly of the sea "where manta rays swim like dancing blankets and there are . . . fish shaped like guitars." So the two go down to the seaside, where they romp and play. Although she's loath to give him up, she knows he'll be happiest in the sea, so she encourages him to strike out on his own. Slater's lyrical text is accompanied by Chien's delightfully watery paintings in blues and greens, filled with squiggles, bubbles and a childlike charm; shifts in perspective give readers and narrator alike a real sense of the serpent's ultimate immensity. Imaginative and engaging. (Picture book. 4-7)

Product Details

• ISBN: 0618723943
  
• ISBN-13: 9780618723942
• Format: Hardcover, 40pp
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
• Pub. Date: May 2008
• Sales Rank: 74,074
• Age Range: 7 to 10