The Ferryboat Ride

Kelly L. Green is the co-editor of the Children’s Literature edition
of the Canadian Book Review Annual.

This bright book is a delight to the senses. Perry has written 12
clever, sequential, four-line poems (each with its own title) about a
ride on a B.C. ferry. The poems are short and accessible enough for a
2-year-old to memorize, but will charm older children and adults as
well. Perry loads us onto the ferry with “Two by two / The cars now
park / Like animals / For Noah’s ark!” and creates a new sensory
adventure with a stand-alone poem for each leg of the wonderful journey.
Like all the poems, my favorite, “Do you believe / In ferry tales / Of
seeing pods / Of flying whales?” is accompanied by one of Greta
Guzek’s neon-bright illustrations—this one shows six black-and-white
orcas leaping in synchrony into green, pink, and purple surf.

The poems and the paintings (reminiscent of Emily Carr’s
representational style) are filled with loving detail, evoking a
wondrous sense of déjа vu for those who have taken the ferry ride
across the Strait of Georgia, and will appeal to any young child who
loves boats and water. So true to the spirit of the West Coast waters,
all that is missing from this book is the salt sea spray. Recommended.