The Antlered Ship

Marco was a fox with questions. Why didn't trees talk, he wondered. Why did some songs make you happy, when others made you sad? Finding no answers amongst his chicken-stew-obsessed fellow foxes, he signed on with a crew of deer, and set sail in their antlered ship. After adventures ranging from an encounter with pirates to navigating the dangerous Maze of Sharp Rocks, they finally came to Sweet Tree Island, where Marco hoped to find the answers he'd been looking for. But had the truth been with him all along...?

An absolutely gorgeous book, The Antlered Ship pairs an engaging adventure story by author Dashka Slater with simply beautiful illustrations by illustrating team Eric and Terry Fan. I appreciated Marco's philosophical musings, show more and the fact that he was so curious about the world that he felt he needed to go out and explore it. As for the visuals, having become an admirer of the Fan Brothers after reading their picture-book debut, The Night Gardener, I had high expectations - and they were more than met! The artwork here is just lovely, whether it be a seafaring vista or a sylvan one. Marco himself is a gorgeous vulpine hero. Recommended to fellow Fan Brothers fans, and to anyone looking for engaging and beautiful new picture-book adventures. show less

The strength of this book is in the illustrations. I love the watercolor and the detail that the illustrators included. I think this book is about bravery, and how these animals went on an adventure together without really knowing what it was going to be like. It was really hard on them during the voyage, but in the end they learned that the sun always comes out in the end and sometimes we have to weather storms.

An antlered ship arrives in the harbor and an inquisitive fox joins with a flock of courageous pigeons and a herd of deer on a quest for adventure, tasty grass and the answers to some of life's mysterious questions.

This book seems to make it on a lot of best book lists. And while the illustrations are darling, the rest makes me wonder why. The story is a fox searching to questions about life, so he joins antlered ship to sail on adventure. The story is long and drawn out. This is not something I would read at storytime or on a regular basis.

Marco is a curious fox who wants to know answers to his questions. When a ship appears and is looking for a crew he signs up in hopes of finding other foxes with the answers to his questions. After some trials and tribulations he and the crew of animals make it to the island but he doesn't find any foxes. He expresses his disappointment to the crew and he tells him his questions. Like "how do you make friends?"

Artwork was beautiful, story was alright.