Paddle-to-the-Sea

I don't know how to rate this book, and it's difficult to write about it. The book was first published in 1941 and it is, of course, a book of its time with all the flaws we can see in retrospect. But it also has elements that transcend its time, and that is its strength.

It's the story of a canoe carved by a Native American child and set loose on the water, with an inscription on the bottom, urging its finders to help the boat to continue its journey to the sea. And so the canoe goes, traveling from place to place, pulled from desperate situations, gliding past a forest and a beaver pond and a marsh as well as a sawmill and a shipwreck and a forest fire. The story is surprisingly complex for a picture book. It's a story of a canoe set into motion with a purpose and its purpose relies on the work of many of others to see that purpose is fulfilled.