"When a powerful storm rages and giant
waves engulf the cliff, the family realizes
their home is in danger ...
and they must act quickly to save it."
Here is another poignant wordless picture book that introduces readers to a little red house on a high cliff above a vast ocean. It offers an idyllic life in the peace and beauty of its surroundings for the young couple who live there. They spend their days fishing; it happens that on one such day they release a dolphin trapped in a fishing net. Once freed, they watch as it relishes the freedom the couple has provided.
A carving of the saved dolphin finds pride of place on a shelf that holds other mementos of their life. They soon welcome a child, and their lives become even more fulfilled. The child grows and prospers. Life is good. Their boat trips on the water that surrounds them are filled with all the beauty of nature and its marine inhabitants. When a pod of dolphins swims nearby (and one shows a particular interest), they are full of wonder.
Time passes and the world around them changes. The waters rise until they threaten the family's safety. Knowing they must do something dramatic, they work to find a way to remove their house from the cliff. With ingenuity, patience and hard work, they manage to fashion a pole raft to be towed behind their boat to a safer place. Lead across the water by the dolphins and guided by a lighthouse beam, they are helped ashore using needed equipment and with plenty of professional help.
This family story clearly shows how daily life and the changes that happen help create a place to call home. As she has done in previous books, Guojing uses a limited palette to capture the emotions felt as the family takes in all the seasonal and yearly changes, and the heartbreak that comes when having to make a dramatic and unimaginable change. It fires the imagination and evokes clear thoughts about the family's way of life, and what home means.
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