Rating: ★★★★★
This was a beautiful book that taught me lessons that I thought was not possible in a children's picture book. I highly recommend everyone to read this simple story especially for little girls because this book teaches you that you do not need to listen to the rules that society dictates one must accomplish instead become a better human being and contribute something to mother nature.
This story is about a little girl named Alice who lives a normal life that of a girl in the early 20th century. She lives close to the sea which is where she helps her grandfather with his painting business and at night he would tell her stories about faraway lands and opens her mind to the unlimited possibilities of the imagination. During that time she makes a promise that she will travel to these faraway lands and her grandfather tells her that she must promise him 3 times that she must accomplish before she dies: 1. Travel to faraway places, 2. Live nearby the sea, and finally she must do something to make the world more beautiful. Simple right?
Quickly we see Alice grows up and she becomes a librarian and while she helps countless adults and children and teaching them of faraway places she hasn't traveled and following her promise she travels to exotic worlds and pretty much we see the years passed by right before our very own eyes and we see that she's now reaching her 40s-50s and she lives in a house thats right next to the ocean. The illustration is beautiful and this part of the story resonates me wholeheartedly because I've always dreamed of having a house near the sea. She thinks of different ways on how to make the world beautiful and when you read and discover what she does it is beautiful and wonderful.
This story is about a little girl named Alice who lives a normal life that of a girl in the early 20th century. She lives close to the sea which is where she helps her grandfather with his painting business and at night he would tell her stories about faraway lands and opens her mind to the unlimited possibilities of the imagination. During that time she makes a promise that she will travel to these faraway lands and her grandfather tells her that she must promise him 3 times that she must accomplish before she dies: 1. Travel to faraway places, 2. Live nearby the sea, and finally she must do something to make the world more beautiful. Simple right?
Quickly we see Alice grows up and she becomes a librarian and while she helps countless adults and children and teaching them of faraway places she hasn't traveled and following her promise she travels to exotic worlds and pretty much we see the years passed by right before our very own eyes and we see that she's now reaching her 40s-50s and she lives in a house thats right next to the ocean. The illustration is beautiful and this part of the story resonates me wholeheartedly because I've always dreamed of having a house near the sea. She thinks of different ways on how to make the world beautiful and when you read and discover what she does it is beautiful and wonderful.
What I loved the most about this story is it teaches us about the circle of life and how each generation must contribute something to help mother nature since it is vital for our survival. The other message that Barbara Cooney did marvelously is you do not need to get married and follow what society tells to women that they must get married, have children, and live happily ever after. You never see Alice being depressed about not having a boyfriend and instead you see how she sacrifices everything to pursue her freedom to travel and being an independent woman while helping the Earth.
This is one of the few books especially children's picture books that teaches the reader it is most simplistic language about spirituality, freedom, and the purpose we must fulfill on this Earth. The illustrations are great and I really enjoyed this book and it definitely should be a classic for everyone to read and discover its beauty. Can't get enough of this book!
