Voyage

by Billy Collins, Karen Romagna (Illustrator)

Overview

This book is sure to capture the imaginations of young readers. A charmingly illustrated poem by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins takes us on a journey that features magical transformations and makes a nautical adventure out of the act of reading. The interplay between the pictures and the poetry dramatizes how reading can transport us from our own familiar world into the fantastic world of a book. The boy in the boat stands for every reader and every child. Billy Collins is the author of a dozen books of poetry and was called America's most popular poet by the New York Times. He served as U. S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003, and the New York Public Library named him a Literary Lion. This is his first book designed for children.Karen loves the ocean so much that as a little girl decided she would be a mermaid. That didn't work out. Instead she followed her other love, art. Karen and her family live in historic Clinton, New Jersey. They vacation every year at the Jersey Shore where Karen spends most days on the beach painting... Hoping to one day at least see a mermaid! Voyage is Karen's debut as a picture book illustrator.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593731540
Publisher:	Bunker Hill Publishing Inc
Publication date:	10/01/2014
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	6 - 18 Years

About the Author

Billy Collins is the author of a dozen books of poetry and was called America's most popular poet by the New York Times. He served as U. S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003, and the New York Public Library named him a Literary Lion. This is his first book designed for children.Karen loves the ocean so much that as a little girl decided she would be a mermaid. That didn'twork out. Instead she followed her other love, art. Karen and her family live in historic Clinton,New Jersey. They vacation every year at the Jersey Shore where Karen spends most days onthe beach painting... Hoping to one day at least see a mermaid! Voyage is Karen's debut as apicture book illustrator.

Hometown:

Somers, New York

Date of Birth:

March 22, 1941

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A., Holy Cross College, 1963; Ph.D. in Romantic poetry, University of California at Riverside, 1971

Editorial Reviews

08/04/2014
In his first picture book, Collins, a former U.S. poet laureate, uses one long, incantatory sentence to describe the way a child enters the world of a book and loses himself in it. Newcomer Romagna paints a dark-haired boy who sets out in a wooden dinghy, hoists the sail, and catches the wind. “And when he loses sight of land,” Collins writes, “the boat becomes a book/ which the boy begins to read... and when he has finished reading, the boy becomes the book.” A pirate with an eye patch brandishes a cutlass; the boy raises his own cutlass, which evaporates like water, taking the pirate with it; then, as the full moon rises and leaves a trail of light along the waves, the boy greets a friendly dolphin. It reads less like a story for children and more like adult nostalgia for a boyhood past, and Romagna’s aquatic landscapes fare better than her uneven portraits of the story’s young hero. Still, the poem’s lulling rhythms make it a fine bedtime readaloud. Ages 4–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2014
PreS-Gr 2—Collins's debut picture book is both serene and magical. Readers are transported to another world following a boy as he sets off in a sailboat that somehow turns into a book. As he journeys, he reads the pages and his expedition begins. "When he has finished reading, the boy becomes the book." He encounters dolphins, jelly fish, and pirates. Illustrations are drawn with soft muted colors in a dreamlike state; they are perfectly matched with the tone of the story as well as visually appealing to the eye. A lyrical addition, especially for bedtime reading.—Megan McGinnis, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

School Library Journal

2014-07-31
In this picture book, poetic words unveil the power of imagination in reading. Through nuance and metaphor, poet Collins delivers the promise of imaginative worlds that await readers who immerse themselves in words. He tells a story of a boy who sails off on a boat that, when out of sight of land, turns into a book, which the boy reads and which then, in delightful circularity, becomes part of his life. Illustrator Romagna does a good job of amplifying the text with her workmanlike images while at the same time inserting visual connecting points to keep it earthbound enough that less poetically inclined readers don't get lost. At times, the boy in the illustrations looks somewhat flat, lacking a clear animating spark, but on the whole, Romagna does a commendable job. The book is on the small side (10 inches by 7 inches), although it does have a landscape orientation—a good choice for a book about a journey. But a larger trim size would have the effect of giving a welcome physical breadth to a story about the expansiveness of imagination. The final page repeats the poem in full, printed within an illustration of an open book—another connection for readers to ponder, another flight of fancy offered. A charming poem-story, competently illustrated, that will especially appeal to poets. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews