"The deepest blue is black as night
except
a light
come from below -
a sunken ship from moons ago."
What a gorgeous book, full of masterly language and amazing, luminous artwork! The first surprise comes when it is opened. The reader immediately turns to the vertical to see a child holding a tiny shell and beaming in the ocean blue setting. From a sandy beach she is invited to board a boat heading out into the blue expanse. Scuba diving is the draw.
Dipping below those waves puts her in a world of beauty not all people have a chance to see. A sankofa bird is her constant companion above and below the surface. As she discovers what the sea holds, the bird increases in size. As she swims further down, she is even more aware of the beauty in the colors experienced there. The blue becomes black, except for a light from below that comes from a sunken ship lying on the ocean floor.
A closer look brings awareness of the many people on board and the chains that held them. She wants to know more.
"'cause there's a place that's hard to find,
a treasure trove that's lost to time;
the traders and the tides, they took
a whole entire history book."
This sunken slave ship glows with the spirits of ancestors who reach their hands out to her and calm her there. Her past is traced to them, their culture and their being. When she resurfaces, she is united in celebration of that history and new learning about herself. Remembering the past allows forward thinking and movement.
Stunning!
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