The Ship in the Window

K-Gr 2–In a tale so spare and atmospheric that it seems barely begun before it ends, the small but meticulously detailed model ship a man insists on building by himself while a boy and also a mouse named Mabel—both relegated to looking on while dreaming of voyages “free and full of wonder”—has its seaworthiness tested when a breezy night inspires the mouse to laboriously drag it down to the shore. Hardly have the man and boy, who both have tan skin and dark hair, rushed out to spot the missing ship sailing past than it hits a rock—which leads first to a double rescue, and then to the man’s realization that he has companions now to share the repair work (and perhaps the dream, though the terse narrative never takes his point of view until the very end). The initially closed-off adult seems to be the central figure here since he’s the only one who is changed by the episode, and as the proportions of mouse and boat alter repeatedly. The two humans seem to float over the water rather than wade in, as shown in Caldecott winner Cordell’s finely hatched illustrations that have a misty, metaphorical cast. Still, the measured mix of visual and verbal narrative will draw in younger readers, and who doesn’t enjoy joining an intrepid mouse on a seagoing adventure?