Zoom at Sea

by Tim Wynne-Jones, Eric Bellows (Illustrator)

Overview

This fanciful nautical adventure stars a winsome cat named Zoom who stays indoors paddling in the sink or sailing in the bathtub all night when other self-respecting cats are out mousing and howling at the moon. One day Zoom finds in his Uncle Roy's diary a map of the sea and how to get there, which leads him to the huge house of the beautiful Maria. When, with the turn of a large wheel, mysterious Maria launches him on a wonderful sea voyage, the first of Zoom’s adventures begins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554983919
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	09/24/2013
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD700L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Tim Wynne-Jones is one of Canada's foremost writers for children. The author of over thirty books, he is a two-time winner of the Governor General's Award, as well as a two-time winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and of the Arthur Ellis Award. He is the recipient of many other prizes at home and internationally including the Edgar Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. In 2012 he was made an Officer to the Order of Canada. He lives in Perth, Ontario.

Eric Beddows is a renowned illustrator who has won many awards, including the Governor General's Award for The Rooster's Gift, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award for the Zoom books, and the International Ezra Jack Keats Award Bronze Medal. He has also had numerous one-man shows of his artwork. He lives in Stratford, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

. . . the tale gradually captivates the reader as the mystery and magic build and recede, like waves on the shore. A thoroughly satisfying book.” — Horn Book

From the Publisher

This fanciful nautical adventure stars a winsome cat named Zoom who stays indoors paddling in the sink or sailing in the bathtub all night ``when other self-respecting cats are out mousing and howling at the moon.'' One day Zoom finds in his Uncle Roy's diary a map of ``the sea and how to get there,'' which leads him to the house of the enigmatic Maria. This woman turns wheels, cranks cranks and opens ``rows upon rows of tiny doors,'' letting in the ocean until Zoom cannot ``even see the walls of this giant room, only the sun coming up like gold, and silver fish dancing on the waves.'' Although Zoom doesn't reach his Uncle's ship as he plans, Maria tells him that he can come back, and the reader is assured that ``he did. / But that's another tale.'' Beddows's intricately detailed black-and-white drawings convey just the right sense of mystery as the world created by both author and illustrator seems to hover tantalizingly between reality and fantasy, and the plucky hero has an adventure any child would envy. Ages 3-7. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A young domestic cat with sailors among his ancestors, Zoom tries paddling in the kitchen sink and sailing in the bathtub, but nothing satisfies him until he discovers a mysterious message from a seafaring uncle. Following directions, he enters a house, and there a lady magically calls up the sea. Zoom quickly builds a raft, sails away for a short jaunt, and soon returns. Children attracted by the delicate, sunrise colors of watercolor wash in the jacket illustration, may be disappointed initially by the lack of color within, but Beddows' shaded pencil drawings skillfully illustrate the tale. The story has a distant quality, with the air more of a reverie than of an adventure. This picture book was first published in 1983 in Canada, where it won the Amelia Howard Gibbon Award for illustration.

Carolyn Phelan