As a young boy sleeps, whales swim out of a poster, goldfish morph into colorful tropical fish, and his bedroom becomes an ocean where he, as a merboy, cavorts with underwater creatures. It's only a dream...or is it? There's no real story in this wordless picture book, which showcases the surreal illustrations. A superfluous poem in both English and Spanish precedes the art.

<p>A young boy, his room decorated with a poster of whales hanging next to his small fish tank, prepares for sleep listening to a seashell, feeding his fish and staring meditatively into space. As he dreams, the fish leave the tank, the whales swim off his poster and he becomes a mer-boy, joining the underwater world for a night of freedom. Rockhill precedes his wordless picture book with a free-verse poem (in both English and Spanish) that sums up in a general fashion what follows. Rockhill's main illustrations are richly colored, detailed and well executed, but are also heightened in a way not unlike idealized scenes from greeting cards or Thomas Kinkade's paintings. Each is accompanied by three smaller pencil illustrations providing subplot information. Skillful but overly sentimental, the artwork will appeal to some and turn others away. (Picture book. 4-7)</p>

PreS-Gr 2 The eponymous poem appears on the first pages (in both English and Spanish) and does a marvelous job of setting the mood for this otherwise wordless picture book. The Spanish translation complements the English beautifully. The poem speaks of a dreamlike voyage under the sea. All of the underwater images are then transformed into gorgeous illustrations that maintain the same surreal, aquatic atmosphere. A boy sits on his bed preparing for sleep. He is surrounded by seashells, a goldfish bowl, and a giant poster of two whales swimming. The shadowy green and blue tones of the palette devolve easily into the dreamlike world into which the boy dives. As each progressive page is turned, his bedroom, bedclothes, and even his own appearance change (reminiscent of Sendaks Where the Wild Things Are) until he is fully engaged in the submarine action. In the final illustration, the child awakens once again in his own bed but finds that the whales have mysteriously disappeared. An evocative addition for bedtime.