Despite being a gray day, these colorful cottages caught my eye. They were all the same design and were likely built by one developer, but each has something unique about it.
by ARCHIE NADON
What caught my eye as we were driving about the Baie Verte area was a single row of colorful cottages by the sea, just across a lush field of grain. On a different day with a different light the colors of the cottages would have been vibrant, the scene like something out of a children’s storybook with a title like, “Nancy’s stormy day by the sea.” Maybe that’s what our obsession with the ocean is all about, we’re reliving some storybook that was read to us when we were kids.
Funny thing is, I don’t remember ever being read to. I mostly remember me doing the reading and what I remember most about a lot of books were the covers. If it was a good cover then I’d stare at if for a long time, taking it in, not trying to figure out what the story was about, but just enjoying the artwork.
My all time favorite is the only one that I still remember the story vividly, The Five Chinese Brothers. Politically incorrect by today’s standards, to be sure, but I loved that book, and still do. It was written by Claire Huchet Bishop in 1938. Comically, the basic assumption is that since they’re Chinese, you can’t tell them apart. The story doesn’t say they were quintuplets, just that they were brothers. Each of the brothers has a special ability and the one that gets himself into trouble is the one who can swallow the sea. He’s nagged by a little boy to swallow the sea so he can pick the fish up off the ocean floor. The brother relents but the boy won’t come back when signalled, the brother lets go of the sea, the boy drowns and the brother is arrested and condemned to die. The townspeople try several methods of executing the brother, but each attempt is thwarted by the special ability and interchangeability of one of the other brothers.
The cover of my favorite book...as a child. I said as a child, right? It was written in 1938 and I still love it, especially the guy who could swallow the sea. And look how happy these guys are.
When my kids were growing up I made sure I found that book to read to them. I read a significant proportion of the library’s children’s collection to my kids, so I doubt The Five Chinese Brothers had the same impact on them as it did on me. But for me, I couldn’t read it often enough. In fact, I enjoyed reading kids books to them so much I would leave the library with huge armloads of books that I would read over the next three weeks and then go back for another load. The kids enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it just as much.
I’ve spent a lot of time in libraries looking for kids books, sitting in those little chairs, checking out the covers and the stories and being excited about getting home to read them to the kids. And now I spend a lot of time with Elaine exploring the Acadian coast, Acadie, and looking for just about the same thing, good visuals with a delightful story.
