“Ocean Meets Sky” by the Fan Brothers (illus.) — Terry & Eric Fan

I had no idea what this story was about before reading it. I bought it solely because of the cover, which is amazing. I love the illustrations.

Genre:

Fantasy

Series:

n/a

Pubbed:

2018

Goodreads summary:

Finn lives by the sea and the sea lives by him. Every time he looks out his window it’s a constant reminder of the stories his grandfather told him about the place where the ocean meets the sky. Where whales and jellyfish soar and birds and castles float.

Finn’s grandfather is gone now but Finn knows the perfect way to honor him. He’ll build his own ship and sail out to find this magical place himself!

And when he arrives, maybe, just maybe, he’ll find something he didn’t know he was looking for. (Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Ocean Meets Sky turned out to be a very touching story that I could strongly relate to. It’s about an Asian boy remembering his grandfather, who’d passed, and the stories he’d tell Finn about the place where ocean meets sky. Finn builds a boat to visit this place and is able to tell his grandfather goodbye.

I loved it. It was a bit of an emotional read too since I lost my grandfather earlier this year, who was in the same age range as Finn’s, but I didn’t get to see him to say bye. It has been four years since I last saw him. My plan was to visit my country later this year to see him and my grandmother, but corona popped up, he passed, and I didn’t bother following through on plans to prepare to travel later on. So I thought it was nice and comforting that Finn could travel to an amazing, fantastical place his grandfather told him about to tell him goodbye.

I also love how the story ends with his mom waking him up. The place where ocean meets sky is always with him, and so too is his grandfather.

Art style:

This is a gorgeous book. I love the detailed illustrations and the overall design of the book. The background color of the dustcover mirrors the sky with its light blue color, twinkling stars, and clouds floating by. And it has creatures and items that appear in the place where ocean meets sky. In the middle, the title appears in gold.

Then there’s the hardback cover, which is actually one of those fabric hardbacks and is a dark blue that makes me think of the depths of the sea. It also has illustrations of other creatures and items that appear where ocean meets sky that are done up in gold. It’s stunning.

I love the endpages as well. They touch on the dreaminess of the story and make me think of the game I’d play when I was little when I’d look up at the clouds and see shapes of animals in them.

Of course, I love the illustrations and colors used throughout the story. The illustrations are very detailed, and I like the tones used for the colors. They aren’t vibrant. They are almost muted sometimes, but I think it works well for the story’s tone. My favorite illustrations are of the place where ocean meets sky. I’d love to visit it. There’s an island of nothing but books…and birds… called the Library Islands, and “a sea of moon jellies dancing,” which is probably my favorite illustration in the whole book. Then there’s the moment when Finn floats toward the moon to say goodbye. It’s such a tender moment.

Overall: ★★★★★

A moving story about a boy visiting a fantastical place to say goodbye to his grandfather. I love the story and the art and consider the book one of my favorites.

Buy | Borrow | Bypass

I HIGHLY recommend it.

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