A Gift from the Sea

by Kate Banks
Illustrated by Georg Hallensleben

Published by U.S. edition: Frances Foster / FSG, 2001

Ages 4 - 7

A quiet, beautifully restrained text embraces something as huge as the history of the earth in the context of something small, understandable, and wholly familiar to a child. When the boy picks up a rock he finds on the beach, "he didn't know that the rock had been spewed from a fiery volcano and cooled in the shade of a thousand years." Or that it had once been part of a cave, that later a city grew around it, and that when the city crumbled, "the rock became a landmark for travelers." As she covers thousands of years of history to tell how the rock changed and moved over time, Kate Banks repeatedly uses the phrase "He didn't know," referencing the child who now counts the rock among his treasures, and creating a sense of wonder and discovery for readers and listeners of this masterful narrative. Banks's words are precise and graceful. Georg Hallensleben's paintings are deep, rich, and evocative. (MS; Aug 6) ©2001 Cooperative Children's Book Center