What do you think?
Mama, Across the Sea
A gentle story of a young island girl waiting for her mother to come home from work, far away on the mainland.
Cecile lives on an island in the West Indies with her grandparents while her mother looks for work on the mainland. Much as she loves her grandparents, Cecile is lonely, and spends her days waiting for her mother to return from across the sea.
As the summer passes, Cecile teaches her grandmother to read and write. She listens to the village storyteller's tales of the sea, and makes a beautiful picture with shells and sand to remind Mama of home. At long last, a letter comes for Cecil, and she crosses the sea to visit the Mama she has missed so much.
Cecile lives on an island in the West Indies with her grandparents while her mother looks for work on the mainland. Much as she loves her grandparents, Cecile is lonely, and spends her days waiting for her mother to return from across the sea.
As the summer passes, Cecile teaches her grandmother to read and write. She listens to the village storyteller's tales of the sea, and makes a beautiful picture with shells and sand to remind Mama of home. At long last, a letter comes for Cecil, and she crosses the sea to visit the Mama she has missed so much.
- GenresPicture Books
48 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2000
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 31, 2016
This is a lovely story about little Cecile who lives on a West Indies island with her grandparents while her mother has employment across the sea. The child misses her mother terribly, and every day she waits and watches the water to see if her mother will return.
There is a lot of gentle imagery in the book, and the images and story line work well together. The artist captures depth of feelings with his creative illustrations.
There is a lot of gentle imagery in the book, and the images and story line work well together. The artist captures depth of feelings with his creative illustrations.
October 15, 2014
"Mama Across the Sea" involves a little girl struggling with being away from her mother. She is with her grandparents while her mom travels to the United States to look for work, and she highlights for the reader what it is like to be without her mother.
This story is related to my topic of families, and it shows a diverse representation of social class and economic status. This story takes place in the West Indies, and so it also highlights island culture. This book is Realistic Fiction, and is appropriate for children in Kindergarten through about Third Grade.
This book did a pretty decent job when compared to the quality picture book checklist. The story offered children a variety of things to think about, question, and consider; it is age-appropriate for children to understand; it includes a rich, thick plot; it includes a problem and a solution; it utilizes style and language that is appropriate for children, and it includes realistic and convincing characters. The illustrations were great, and were accurate, corresponded to to the text, held the children's interest, and enhanced the story. The characters in the story did not show a variety of culture groups, but it did show the reader a diverse culture group and multiple perspectives and values. The book also showed genuine and complex lifestyles for characters, it did not show negative stereotypes for the group represented, the characters used accurate speech, and there was diversity represented within cultural groups. I am unsure whether or not the author belongs to the group represented or not.
This story is related to my topic of families, and it shows a diverse representation of social class and economic status. This story takes place in the West Indies, and so it also highlights island culture. This book is Realistic Fiction, and is appropriate for children in Kindergarten through about Third Grade.
This book did a pretty decent job when compared to the quality picture book checklist. The story offered children a variety of things to think about, question, and consider; it is age-appropriate for children to understand; it includes a rich, thick plot; it includes a problem and a solution; it utilizes style and language that is appropriate for children, and it includes realistic and convincing characters. The illustrations were great, and were accurate, corresponded to to the text, held the children's interest, and enhanced the story. The characters in the story did not show a variety of culture groups, but it did show the reader a diverse culture group and multiple perspectives and values. The book also showed genuine and complex lifestyles for characters, it did not show negative stereotypes for the group represented, the characters used accurate speech, and there was diversity represented within cultural groups. I am unsure whether or not the author belongs to the group represented or not.
October 9, 2012
I like that this book talks about something that a lot of kids could be going through. There are a lot of children that could live with their grandparents and their parents live somewhere else far away. It's a cute book.
October 12, 2008
Although the storyline is not always cohesive and the elements to not blend well, this book portrays island life through its rich paints and the importance of literacy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews