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38th out of 66 books
—
144 voters
Sea of Dreams
by
Dennis Nolan
On a beautiful sunlit beach, a girl builds a magnificent sandcastle. As night falls the girl heads for home. Waves move ever closer to the castle, threatening its survival. Suddenly, in one of its windows, a light comes on . . .
Sea of Dreams is a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Picture Books title for 2011....more
Sea of Dreams is a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Picture Books title for 2011....more
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
October 25th 2011
by Roaring Brook Press
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Beautiful.
A wordless book that kids will love. There is so much here to think about and notice. In this story a girl builds a sandcastle and then goes away for the night. The occupants come alive and flee the swelling tide as it rolls in. They are off for an adventure and end up on the nearby island. The next morning the girl comes to build another castle.
Is this a process that repeats itself daily? How would you end the story? What happens next? This one could be turned into a creative writin...more
A wordless book that kids will love. There is so much here to think about and notice. In this story a girl builds a sandcastle and then goes away for the night. The occupants come alive and flee the swelling tide as it rolls in. They are off for an adventure and end up on the nearby island. The next morning the girl comes to build another castle.
Is this a process that repeats itself daily? How would you end the story? What happens next? This one could be turned into a creative writin...more
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LOVED this book. It always amazes me how much storytelling can take place when there isn't a single word on the page. This was the great adventure about how a sandcastle can come to life after the creator has gone home from the beach for the day. This visual tale had the royal family escaping when their livelihood was threatened by impending doom of crashing waves from a rising tide. Luckily they are about to safely sail across the sea to a near by fortress (rock). The following night the must e...more
Lovely illustrations; wonderfully spooky story! WHERE do those castle-dwellers come from! What does it mean that the girl has an "earth" patterned bathing suit on? Are there other people on that island? What does that seagull know? Another strong wordless story.
The artwork is very realistic looking, which really adds to a story about an adventure on the high seas. I was impressed that the book opened with a main character who was a person of colour, but the little girl only ends up making the sandcastle the white adventurers emerge from later. Still, I can't be too disappointed with this book since it only reminded me how unique it is to find any non-lesson-oriented picture book starring a child of colour. At least she was the character the readers wer...more
Sea of Dreams by Dennis Nolan
Not only is this book filled with beautiful illustrations, but it also hits close to home with many of us. How many of you have built a sandcastle? How many of you had a vivid imagination while playing at the beach? A little girl comes to the beach and builds a sandcastle and gives life to a family inside who ends up being washed out to sea by the high tide. After scary yet exhilarating encounters with waves, seahorses, and mermaids, the family struggles to make it t...more
Not only is this book filled with beautiful illustrations, but it also hits close to home with many of us. How many of you have built a sandcastle? How many of you had a vivid imagination while playing at the beach? A little girl comes to the beach and builds a sandcastle and gives life to a family inside who ends up being washed out to sea by the high tide. After scary yet exhilarating encounters with waves, seahorses, and mermaids, the family struggles to make it t...more
Sea of Dreams is a beautifully illustrated wordless picture book that tells the story of what happens after a sandcastle is built and left on the beach. This book genre is quickly turning into one of my favorites, as it seems to me that just using the detailed illustrations to paint a story in your mind gives it so much more depth than just reading the text, and this story in particular would be cheapened with the use of text.
I would recommend this book to everyone, since it can be appreciated t...more
I would recommend this book to everyone, since it can be appreciated t...more
This book is magical. A girl builds a fantastic sandcastle, but as the sun goes down and the tide comes in to wash it away, a light goes on in one of the towers! The little people that emerge go on to make a new life and in the end, you see, they are not the only ones in their predicament. I think I probably loved the whimsy of this more than Miles, but he did enjoy it and would probably be more swept away (no pun intended) if he was a bit older with an imagination going in another direction tha...more
Sea of Dreams is a beautiful wordless picture book about a little girl who builds a sandcastle. The sandcastle, becomes a real castle and as the tide comes in the castle gets flooded and the tiny people who live in it must sail away in search of a new place to live. Along their journey, they face many treacherous adventures. I especially enjoyed this book because I completely understood the story without needing to read a word. The pictures told the story for me and the artwork is stunning.
A great story with great illustrations. It is a fantasy story about a girl building a sandcastle. After she leaves, the waves swallow it up, but wait, there are people inside! The people escape in a boat and make it to a nearby island. Nolan's story and illustration combination is excellent. He even adds other things to look for such as the girl's swimsuit is a satallite view of the earth and it changes from Africa to North America and places in between throughout the book.
Worldess picture book that begins and ends with a sandcastle. A girl builds a sandcastle close to the ocean and when the waves begin to wash it away the small family inside of it escapes. They enjoy many adventures in the sea (like playing with mermaids) and finally make their way to shore again and begin making themselves at home. Put this book on the shelf next to Flotsam and Chalk , it's fabulous and leaves the end open for the reader to imagine what comes next.
A day at the beach also includes an adventure in architecture. What would you build? A castle, a fortress, your house? Whatever you build, at the end of the day you'll have to say goodbye. Now, what happens to the people who live in your sand home? They belong to the sea of dreams!
Dennis Nolan paints wonderful lifelike pictures. I looked twice when I opened the book to see if the illustrations were paintings or photographs.
Reviewed from a library copy.
Dennis Nolan paints wonderful lifelike pictures. I looked twice when I opened the book to see if the illustrations were paintings or photographs.
Reviewed from a library copy.
An interesting picture book about the power of imagination: a young girl builds a sand castle on the beach, and when the tide comes in a light appears inside and little people jump out into a little boat to find safety. The pictures are so expressive I didn't notice there were no words, which leaves it ready for a wise storyteller to have fun expanding the story in as much detail as they like.
Reviewed for www.GoodReadingGuide.com
Reviewed for www.GoodReadingGuide.com
This is a wonderful wordless book. One does not need words to understand the story. Just use your imagination. There are so many characters in the story. The girl, the seagull (looking over everyone else), the two families that come from the two castles. Is the gull making sure that the large rock jutting out in the sea being colonized? Does he has magic powers. I feel he is an important part of the story! What do you think?
This wordless picture book is filled with beautifully detailed illustrations. The story starts of realistically with a girl building a sand castle. It then follows a group of tiny people who live in the castle on a sea voyage to a nearby island. The book would help teaching predicting. It also helps foster the imagination as readers must come up with their own words about the story and imagine the journey of the small people.
This is another amazing wordless book along the lines of Chalk, Tuesday, or The Red Book, that forces the reader to tell the story in their head. I like these, because they're fun to read with children and ask them to tell you the story as you flip the pages. A girl builds a sandcastle on the beach and at night, the castle comes to life....adventure ensues!
A girl builds a sandcastle, which she leaves at the end of the day, not knowing that tiny people inside her castle must escape the rising tide and set out for an adventure of their own. This beautiful story and its exquisite drawings reminded me a lot of Wiesner.
This may be best for older kids who can create the narrative and enjoy the story for what it is.
This may be best for older kids who can create the narrative and enjoy the story for what it is.
Dennis Nolan's The Castle Builder is one of my all-time favorite books. Where it has black and white pointaliste illustrations, Sea of Dreams is in color. The theme is similar - imagining what happens to and in a sand castle - and I enjoyed the wordless nature of the book, along with the colorful illustrations.
Dennis Nolan's illustrations combine to offer a subtle, wordless picture book that adult storytellers will enjoy sharing with young children or older reluctant readers. Sea of Dreams is a solid offering in the wordless genre, however, the quiet, understated illustrations do not call the reader to keep returning to the story.
The painterly illustrations in this wordless book draw a person in. From the prosaic beginning of an ordinary girl building an ordinary sand castle, we go on a magical journey which involves beautiful close-ups of sea life both real and imagined. Beautiful, quiet, warm.
In this wordless picture book, a young girl builds a sand castle and leaves it behind on the beach at the end of the day. When the tide rolls in, the tiny inhabitants of her castle must flee for their lives before the water consumes them.
Wordless picture book about a girl at the beach building elaborate sand castles that are inhabited by small sea-faring adventuring people each tide. Kivrin loved the imagination part. I loved making up the stories.
This is a book with no words. It is a great book because the students can tell their own story. It zooms in and zoom out of the illustrations. I like it because the students can make up their own story.
Love the imaginative power at work here -- the little people in the sand castle making their way to a craggy rock. The way a child can anticipate the way the next day's sand castle adventure will proceed.
Very much like Flotsam. Lovely illustrations, this would be a great read-together with it, and alone will be a wonderful bedtime story following a day at the beach.
How many children can I give this to? So far I've given a copy to Molly, and am about to buy more copies to give away as presents and one to keep for me.
Beautifully illustrated book about a sand castle built by a little girl and the very small people who live in it after she leaves. This is a wordless book.
wordless but beautiful illustrations and a fun little adventure for the mini people who have to leave the sandcastle as it is flooded by the tide
Yes - similar to Flotsam, but gorgeous all the same.
As night falls, a torchlit window frames a family as they observe the waves that are engulfing their sandcastle. They launch the sail powered ship which carries them away, and the adventure begins.
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Dennis Nolan is an illustrator and writer of children's books.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
More about Dennis Nolan...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Feb 12, 2012 01:53pm