Boat of Dreams [Hardcover]

How does a boy come to live alone in an apparently deserted city? Arethey separated by distance or by time? Does the man dream the boy? Doesthe boy dream the man? Is a blank paper in a floating bottle aninvitation to imagine our futures? Is the mans flying boat anencouragement to the boy to dream? Are the man and the boy the samepersonthe boy dwelling in the mans memory? Is a message in a bottlethe earthbound dreams of the elderly? Is a flying boat the unconstraineddreams of the young? This wordless, many-layered 80-page picture bookinvites all these interpretations and more. The intricately detailedillustrations reveal new wonders with each viewing. Neither children noradults will ever tire of this wonderful testament to imagination,memory, and dreams.This wordless, 80-page picture book opens with an elderly man waking up. He goes outside and we discover he lives at the seaside. After a floating bottle beaches, he opens it to find a piece of paper. He begins to draw: a picture of a boat. He places the paper back in the bottle and returns it to the sea. The action then shifts to a city, where a small boy finds an envelope at his doorstep. Inside is the drawing. And we watch as the boy draws a crude picture of himself inside the boat. The next thing we know, he is aboard it, flying to the old man. When he arrives, they embrace; the boy hands the man the envelope, and flies off. Inside the envelope is the picture the boy has drawn. Fin.Its a haunting story of inexplicable connections, and Coelho resists spelling out its mysteries, letting readers draw their own conclusions.Rog?rio Coelho has the gift to transform images into messages, far into near, and near into inside. In his images the colors travel through sepia and blue combinations, the spaces house countless objects, the objects with their magical traits come alive, and the characters reveal themselves as affections. In a trip of discovery, childhood meets old age, and old age meets hope. Colors, shapls›