Customer Reviews

My Life with the Wave

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

this book plays on the beliefs of a child; wanting the impossible. i must admit that i wanted a wave of my own after reading this book! the artwork is magnificent, the dialogue is intriguing yet understandable...this is a MUST have for anyone with children...or anyone with an imagination.

This is a translation and retelling of an Octavio Paz story about a boy who befriends a wave on his first trip to the seashore and brings it home with him "cup by small cup". The ensuing problems associated with domesticating a wave, while amusing and delightful, prove to be too much for the boy's family. They finally cleverly figure out how to take the wave home. Cowan's fluid adaptation suggests a love of language and fidelity to the original. Buehner's vibrant, colorful full-page illustrations capture the humor and silliness as well as the drama of the tallish-tale. Good design handsomely combines text and pictures to make this an outstanding book.

I love books that begin with a fanciful, "what-if" premise. In this case, what if a sliver of the sea -- a wave -- followed a family home from the beach like a stray animal? The illustrations, humorous in a borderline-grotesque way, capture the muscular spirit of this fantasy. I need not convince my children to read this story again and again, and they need not waste time coaxing me. I love it because it permits every reader to imagine the delightfully surreal.

My Life With The Wave is, by far, my favorite children's book and just fascinates my 6-year-old daughter. The story, the writing, the illustrations are all wonderful. We've taken this book out of our local library many times. Now, we are buying our own copy, one for my daughter's teacher and one for a friend.

We used this book in a university class I am taking called children's literature. I was amazed at the quality and the brillance of the writing, it is remarkable. The language is so vivid and beautiful, that it could be out of a literary novel. The illustrations are equally as beautiful and the storyline is very well thought out and original.

Kids are always bringing things home from the beach, but you have probably never seen a kid who brings home a stray wave. "My Life with the Wave" is based on the story by Octavio Paz, the Nobel Prize winning author from Mexico. At first the boy finds it is great fun to have a wave in the house; the sun comes to play with it and there are fish adorning the wave's hair. But waves are affected by the moon and the sun, and the boy discovers that the wave can get very moody at times. How do you get a wave to go back to the sea? This charming and imaginative tale has been translated and adapted for children by Catherine Cowan and illustrated by Mark Buehner, who has skillfully hidden a cat, a dog, a mouse, a whale and a sea horse in almost every picture (just to drive us even more crazy, I imagine). The best thing about this book is that no matter how much you kids are inspired, they will never, ever be able to bring home anything like a wave. At least, I certainly hope not.

I saw this book ten years ago in the bookstore and never bought it. That was a mistake because various times I've tried to find it and couldn't. Finally I found it here. This is such a sweet book. It's a delight to any lover of children's books.