11 November, 2010

Left Shoe and the Foundling

Left Shoe and the Foundling by Annie O'Dowd

Seadogs live along the coast in small burrows. In many ways they are like humans, they live in families, eat off plates and drink out of cups. When they have babies, they always have two (a boy and a girl) and the children are named at sunrise after treasures found on the beach.

When Left Shoe is born, his twin sister dies. As he grows up, he notices he is different - he has no twin.

One day, instead of going to the school sports day (which he hates) he goes fishing instead. There is a storm brewing, the giant squid to contend with, and a floating basket...

This was a beautiful book. The story is gorgeous and O'Dowd has a lovely writing style. The pictures are simply done and add to the beautiful feeling of the book. It would be a lovely read aloud for about 5 up.