The Little Boat

by Kathy Henderson, Patrick Benson (Illustrator)

Carried on the optimism of a child--the belief in infinite horizons and possibilities--the little boat sails across the ocean and into the hands of another child on a far shore. Henderson's lyrical words evoke the ocean in all its moods and manners while Benson depicts the grand adventure of a very small boat in exhilarating illustrations that sweep across the pages.

Genres: Picture Books, Adventure, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 1995

About the author

Kathy Henderson is an artist, printmaker and illustrator, as well as an author. She has written many books for children of all ages including In the Middle of the Night, The Year in the City, Fearless Fitzroy and The Little Boat, which won the Kurt Maschler Award and was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. She has also illustrated a number of books herself including And the Good Brown Earth and The Storm which was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and her collection of poems The Dragon with a Big Nose which was shortlisted for the CLPE Children’s Poetry Award 2014.

Reviews

[Andrew]

The Little Boat
by Kathy Henderson

A young boy is absorbed in play at the beach makes a simple boat from a stick, string and a piece of polystyrene. The toy boat is then blown out to sea and the narrative follows the boat out into the open ocean.
Many themes are explored, size, scale, space and loneliness. The weather and sea states and what it is like below the waves not only inform the reader of the wider world but add to the unfolding story.
The illustrations by Patrick Benson provide colourful and detailed visual references to the text. The occasional use of rhyme serves to add extra emphasis to the narrative and as the story unfolds it has a rhythm, calm-storm-calm. As the story ends the boat’s journey reaches a satisfyingly heartfelt conclusion, but with perhaps a visual clue to it just being the end of a chapter for the boat.
A thought provoking story that could be the basis for a number of topics.
Foundation to KS2

[Chloe Smith]

a heartwarming book about the adventure of a small plastic boat.
interesting rhythm and rhyming structure that keeps the book interesting. lots of descriptive words and interesting vocabulary used that can be the base of a class discussion or started to an english activity. detailed, bright coloured images that can also inspire an art lesson

[Alice Maton]

There is lots of lovely figurative language and great illustrations for everyone to enjoy.
I think you need to read this a few times to understand the rhythm and flow, which is sometimes purposely inconsistent.
It is a good example of why punctuation is needed, however it feels like the style of a poem which often doesn't have punctuation and the new line is often purposeful.

[Omri]

An excellent children book, it conveys the size and wonder of the ocean (and our imagination).

The language used is not simple, but the rhythm, the "music", are often enough to steer the child's imagination. Each of my kids loved to hear this book read aloud again and again, even though they were not English speakers at the time...

Patrick Beneson's drawing are, as usual, excellent. both beautiful and hinting at an elusive "more" that is beyond the image frame.

The overall effect is an invitation for the child to soar.

[Tanya Srivastava]

A beautiful storybook with gorgeous illustrations and adventurous rhyming story. This book explains about sea and other things like harbour, fisher boat and oil rig which are part of sea and other things.

A little boy made a boat and played with the boat singing 'We are unsinkable my boat and me!' He turned his back and small wind blew away from the shore out of his reach. The little boat sailed all alone and further it sailed the ocean grew bigger. There was no sign of land or leaf or bird under endless sky.

Days went by and still the little boat sailed on with once a glimpse of lights from oil rig. And then sky went dark and the wind began to roar and spray waves in the air like flames. The little boat danced with the wind and once storm was over everything was calm again. Fish grabbed the boat and dived deep and light grew dim. Fish spat out when she saw boat was not a food and it went up and up and floated in the calm sunshine.

Now boat can hear bird sound again and white surf rolled the little boat towards the land and there at the shore. A little girl picked up the boat and she splashed and she played at the edge of sea singing 'we are unsinkable my boat and me.'

[Mathew]

Brought to the beach by his mother, a young boy discovers some discarded Styrofoam, a stick and some string and fashions from this a rudimentary boat. Happily he plays with it around his carved, sandy moat exclaiming 'We are unsinkable my boat and and me!' After a day of play, the boat eventually breaks free and sails across seas and oceans until the tide and wind bring it to a different shore and into the hands of another young child.

Henderson's poetic narrative is beautiful. Presented in free-form verse, its pace rolls and rocks with the story and action. Language is rich and vivid and Benson watercolours and ink spreads enrich the journey tenfold. A wonderful book on its own and a perfect companion to Wiesner's Flotsam

[Louise]

A wonderful picture book about a little homemade boat. The boat gets carried away from the boy that made him, and has a magnificent adventure. All gloriously illustrated by Patrick Benson. Fantastic use of scale.

[Rebecca]

Not an easy read... slight poetry, mostly free verse, but poorly done.

[Little Champs]

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