Three new books for children make excellent reading

THE BOY AND THE DOLPHIN, by John Christopher Fine, Windswept House Publishers, 34 pages, illustrated, $15.95.

John Christopher Fine’s moving account of a young boy and his struggle to free a baby dolphin from discarded tuna nets is a wonderful children’s story that touches on deeper issues than even those depicted in this tale.

Having to deal with the recent death of his father, a young boy wanders aimlessly in his grief through his house and his fishing village for answers to questions about life and death that do not come easy for any of us. Finally, in desperation, he turns to his fishing boat and the sea for solace.

At sea, he is confronted by a dolphin that leads him on a Hemingway-like adventure to aid the huge fish in its attempt to save one of its young.

The boy and the dolphin are too late to save the trapped offspring, and at this point, both reader and boy have a better understanding of our tentative existence on this planet.

This is truly fine literature, for the author has interwoven not only themes of life and death but ecological themes as well.

Illustrated beautifully by Aleksander Kardas, “The Boy and the Dolphin” is sure to bccome a classic.

Reminding one of “The Old Man and the Sea,” this book leaves the reader with a simple but lasting impression of human emotion and our struggle to maintain dignity despite our surroundings. The boy from the fishing village could be any classic Hemingway hero, and readers will warm to him early on as he fights the elements to save a dying dolphin.

This book is clearly a winner.

THE LITTLE WHITE LADYBUG, by Renata Jones, Windswept House Publishers, 41 pages, illustrated, $8.95.

Another children’s story from Windswept House Publishers that is sure to please is “The Little White Ladybug” by Renata Jones. Geared at a much younger audience than “The Boy and the Dolphin,” this story tells of a white ladybug and its fight for identity, companionship and recognition in a world of red bugs.

Clearly allegorical in theme, “The Little White Ladybug” tells all of us that it is the character of a person that counts, not the color of one’s skin. The trials and tribulations encountered by the book’s main character and its eventual capacity to overcome them are issues adults and children alike should take to heart.

The watercolor drawings of Lisa de Tuerk only add to the rich splendor of another first-rate children’s story.

WIND IN MY POCKET, by Ellen Bryan Obed, Breakwater Books, 32 pages, illustrated, no price listed.

With wind in my pocket up from the sea

and a cloud from the sky to wear,

With a bundle of sun tucked under my arm

and ribbons of rain in my hair,

I walked to a bend in the afternoon

for a friend who was waiting there.

Ellen Bryan Obed’s beautiful collection of short verse, illustrated by Shawn Steffler, is a neat change-of-pace children’s collection that will give to the reader brief words and pictures that would make wonderful bedtime reading.

Obed’s ability to capture a variety of emotions and activities ranging from the joys of friendship to the sound of the wind is not only clever but it is also heady in its intent, for the messages are pungent in their delivery, while the illustrations clearly enhance the author’s poetic talents.

Ron Brown is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.