Rogério Coelho

An elderly man draws a picture of a magical flying ship in this wordless picture-book from Brazilian artist Rogério Coelho, launching it out to sea in the same bottle that brought him the paper. Eventually his drawing finds its way to a little boy, living in a city far away. The little boy changes the drawing, adding himself and his cat as passengers on the boat, before taping it up over his bed. In his dreams - or are they dreams? - he sails off to meet the old man, and the two spend some time together, before parting again...

Having greatly enjoyed Coelho's artwork in such titles as Brynne Barnes' Books Do Not Have Wings and Lucy Branam's Roof Octopus, I was curious to track down one of his own stories, and see how I would like it. I found Boat of Dreams just lovely, and appreciated the many ways one could interpret the story. Is the boy a younger version of the old man, each one dreaming of the other? Is the boy the man's grandson, separated either by distance or death, but reunited in dream? Either could be the case, and that is all to the good, giving this an open-ended, dream-like quality entirely appropriate to the story (whatever it is). Recommended to fans of Rogério Coelho's artwork, and to readers who enjoy wordless picture-books.… (more)