Review by Booklist Review
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this remarkable 96-page book is worth 96,000! Unfortunately, this review can contain only 220, but happily that is ample to lavish praise on this wordless book, the black-and-white illustrations of which speak volumes. The story they tell is a simple one, though: a pilotless little paper boat begins an epic sea voyage that will--judging from introductory maps--circumnavigate the globe. But what a globe! Its seas are a brilliantly imagined phantasmagoria populated by fantastic creatures that the boat encounters on its voyage. The waters on which it sails teem with beings that only vaguely resemble any in real life, some of them so otherworldly as to beggar description. Others are more recognizable, however: a seahorse, for example, hitches a ride for several full-page panels; a dog chases a cat over the waves; and what may be a human being appears wearing a diving suit. Things become more reality-rooted as the boat nears the end of its voyage, passing a lighthouse, a people-filled pier, two ocean liners, and more. Not surprisingly, the voyage's terminus returns to the phantasmagoric, leaving the happy reader to wonder. Van den Ende's work may evoke that of Shaun Tan or of Chris Van Allsburg at his enigmatic best, but, in the end, this gifted Belgian artist is absolutely sui generis.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Dutch artist Van den Ende follows a mysterious paper boat on a surreal, at times oppressive-feeling journey across the world's oceans. Wordless, closely worked black-and-white spreads conjure an alternative Earth whose reefs hold strange life-forms. The paper boat--it's as tall as a person (or are the people as small as the boat?)--is folded and launched from a galleon by a fair-haired human and a horned, caped figure. On its voyage, the paper craft encounters monstrous sea creatures, icebergs, murky depths illuminated by sea life, and more. Approaching a drilling rig that pumps poison into the air, it takes a bullet while sea birds drop out of the sky, dead. The black caped figure and attendant bright-eyed creatures intervene. At last, the paper boat arrives at the harbor of a surreal port city, where a final reunion leaves still another mystery. Charged with a current of imaginative power, Van den Ende's artwork, like an Escher drawing leaning into oceanic and naval architecture, results in a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sensibility and an unsettling blend of warm nostalgia and chilly futurism. Ages 8--up. (Oct.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
Two figures, one fully human, the other a more fanciful humanoid figure with horns (or is it a crescent moon bisecting its head?), fold a paper boat and launch it from their ship. The boat travels from the middle of the Pacific Ocean down along the coasts of North and South America, north past Africa until it makes land in Europe (so indicated on the endpapers). Although elements of the journey seem familiar, and the world map sets the story in the known world, this is an entirely wondrous -- and wordless -- trip. The paper boat passes sea turtles that spout like whales, fish with human hands, and harlequin seahorses. Like Escher's paintings, Van Allsburg's images in Ben's Dream, or Shaun Tan's otherworlds, Van den Ende's intricate pen-and-ink creations are both familiar and fantastical. The surreal, precise illustrations are full of unexpected humor (such as a whale balancing a pipe in its blowhole) as well as tension. First published in the Netherlands, Van den Ende's sophisticated picture book leaves viewers with a sense of the literal and figurative ebb and flow of life. The little paper boat meets adversity in the form of dangerous waves and ominous creatures, but gets help from equally unexpected sources. It is fragile -- readers know, logically, that a paper boat cannot survive life in the ocean -- but indeed it does. Maeve Visser Knoth November/December 2020 p.86(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A paper boat navigates an intercontinental voyage, meeting fantastic creatures, industrial ships, and surprising allies. In this mind-blowing debut, Belgian author Van den Ende presents over 60 intricately rendered drawings, depicting everything from Escher-esque schools of fish to vast expanses of ocean and sky. The wordless tale begins near the Aleutians, as ship Exploratio launches the tiny boat. Its encounters--with fish-mammal hybrids, Antarctic ice caverns, and more--unfold above meticulously detailed underwater tableaux. The conflicted interplay between humans and ocean habitats is portrayed throughout. Juxtaposed with a doleful, pipe-smoking baleen whale is a surreal anglerfish/crustacean hybrid with a broadcasting TV as bait perched atop a sunken trove of boats (including a paper one). More whimsically, a giant squid trades bottled ink for bound books. Chillingly, a deep-sea oil rig, a whale hanging from one crane, spews noxious smoke amid dying birds and fish. The paper boat assists a diver during an armed attack from the rig. It's rescued, in turn, during a storm and, again, after a waterlogged sinking. Achieving a European port, the paper boat reencounters the many beings and crafts that abetted its journey. Six intriguing final panels delineate the paper boat docking below a small house. As the boat fades away, a human figure materializes, adorned with images from the voyage--including the paper boat. As the figure encounters another at the doorway, readers are left to their own conjurations. Marvelously engrossing--a triumph. (map) (Picture book. 6-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
