Town Is by the Sea

Product Information

This is a gem of a book and disarmingly accessible – children don’t need to know it’s set in the 1950s or understand coal-mining to enjoy it, but once they tune into the book’s emotional landscape they’ll start to read it in a different way. Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois by Amy Novesky and Isabelle Arsenault, Abrams Books 2016 Town is by the Sea offers an unusually rich experience: one that is multi-layered and can be appreciated on many levels, making it an ideal starting point for creative activities. And suddenly there is Cagliari: a naked town rising steep, steep, golden-looking, piled naked to the sky …” So wrote DH Lawrence in 1921 on sailing to Sardinia. Almost 100 years later the city that made the writer “think of Jerusalem” is just as impressive. For such a dark concept it’s not a dark book. When my husband and I read this book to our six-year-old and three-year-old they seemed more intrigued by the fact that a kid could walk by himself to the store (this is the 50s’ after all) than the fact that someday that boy will work all day in the claustrophobic dark below the sea. Indeed I was intrigued to find that the chilling final lines of the picture book sink far deeper into the psyches of the adults reading this book than the kids. But I like that Joanne Schwartz does not judge the workers or the town. The inevitability of becoming a miner isn’t delivered by the young protagonist with anything more than simple honesty. Just listen to those final lines: “I’m a miner’s son. In my town, that’s the way it goes.” The dread I felt when he alluded to his future was purely personal, helped in no small part by Schwartz & Smith’s clever pairing of sunlight and gloom throughout the book. You might not want to work down there, but when your future is set in stone it’s hard to think outside the box. There’s a quote that Schwartz includes in her Author’s Note from Robert McIntosh’s Boys in the Pits: Child Labour in the Coal Mines that summarizes this perfectly. “The boy may have seen for years his father and older brothers leave for the pit. For most boys raised within these communities, the day arrived when they too surrendered their childhood to it.”

The boy and his friend will go down the pit, just like their fathers and grandfathers before them, because ‘that’s the way it goes.’ And once the dazzling summer light has faded, we’re left to wonder what became of our narrator and all the other boys like him. Children don’t need to know this book is set in the 1950’s or understand coalmining to enjoy it – it’s full of life and disarmingly accessible. But there are many layers here, together with some hidden depths, making this a richly satisfying starting point for creative exploration.This lovely, light-filled picturebook has hidden depths and is well worth reading and exploring with your class. Created by musicians, writers, theatre-makers and sound artists, sonic theatre pieces are more than radio plays. They’re immersive sound worlds, intoxicating blends of music and storytelling, sound design, documentary and fiction.

Observant readers will spot more than we’re being told. There’s a problem in the tunnel: will Father come home? The tension is subtle and swiftly relieved, but the shadows this book casts are real. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. There are wordless image sequences in this book ( Dad arriving home; the boys swinging…) Look at them carefully and talk about what is shown, and how, and what’s left out. Use to inspire wordless image sequences of your own. Told as a day in the life of a boy living in a 1950s coastal mining town, the book’s appealingly direct text is complemented by Sydney Smith’s striking illustrations which won him this year’s Kate Greenaway medal. With curriculum connections to communities and the history of mining, this beautifully understated and haunting story brings a piece of Canadian history to life. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a Cape Breton mining town will enthrall children and move adult readers.

One of the most glorious things about the UK being an island is that there’s certainly no shortage of coastline. No siree. Fully exploring this nation’s towering cliffs, brilliant beaches, sweeping bays and dramatic headlands would fill several lifetimes. And along those coastlines are an equally vast number of marvellous villages and towns – plenty of which are enjoying a bit of a renaissance right now. For something more traditional, try the The Old Inn , a five-minute walk from De Grote Post towards the beach. There are just two dishes on the menu at this delightful restaurant with walls covered in antique posters of Ostend: steak (€23) or fish (catch of the day, price varies). Annie started this business in 1969 and still reigns supreme in the kitchen. Her husband René brings the hand-cut fries and homemade mayonnaise to your table. Desserts (€7) are local classics dame blanche (ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce) or pancake mikado (my favourite). I really admire the way Schwartz choose to write this story with the main character anticipating what his future might bring. It was flawlessly accompanied by Smith’s illustrations which highlight even more about the story. In this Soundworlds production, we follow Davey as he describes his daily routine: from waking up with the sea sparkling outside his window, to playing with his friends, buying groceries for his mother, and visiting his grandfather’s grave. Throughout the day, his thoughts keep returning to his father, working in the coal mines deep beneath the town.