The Line Tender
This book tackles big, unanswerable questions of life with beauty and sincerity. And the most delightful part of this journey of questioning such huge perplexities for a child is the incredibly fabulous and real people you meet along the way. All because you are trying to figure out a question.
Sometimes the most relatable books have characters who are looking to find out about big questions in life. People may say kids shouldn’t bother with such hard questions. They want kids to just enjoy being a child and not to have worries or be stressed by pressing problems. I feel kids have a lot to offer, like this incredibly tenacious main character. Lucy Everhart who seeks to understand the waves of loved ones lost, the depth of friendship and the mysterious truths found in the sharks.
This debut author certainly explored the goodness of character. She crafted unique characters with odd and interesting habits to help Lucy with the puzzles of life that children go through. We should not hinder kids from seeking out answers and telling them to go play instead. They just might find the answers they are looking for and along the way they might be the ones to help the future.
This book swells with emotion, stirs up the waters when the murkiness of life wants to overtake us and takes us sailing with a character who may not have all the answers in the end, but it is enough. Like the people we meet along the way of life who help us seek the answers we are longing for the world to know. I loved this book!!! It is deep and truly beautiful. Just like the cover.
Yes, the art in this book is incredible! It is not only, gloriously beautiful, it ties to the main character’s gift of drawing and leads to the beginning of each chapter. I am sorry I have to say that it is not often you get to admire an illustrator for a novel. Well done, Jin Xingye! What a perfect match you are for this book. It was definitely the beauty of the cover that drew me in last summer. Although, I was waiting for the soft cover but could not wait any longer when I was buying for others at Christmas. I bought this book, wrapped it up and gave it to myself.
The illustrations are such an integral part of this book, drawing emotion, luring details from the mystery of the deep and bringing light to solutions. Where picture books regularly tie words and art so beautifully, The Line Tender is an artistic novel captivating, and ensnaring the reader to a reflective moment of the deep contemplations before us.
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