Just One Wave: A Picture Book is the illustrated book result of a child’s frustration, and creativity about going to the beach when there aren’t any waves. Kids want big waves, but they’re rightly scared of them. However, if the waves are too small, or non-existent, then it can act as fuel for a child to act out or complain. This is especially true for those who go to the beach at a lake. Just One Wave’s author is Travis Jonke who lives near Lake Michigan, and it’s a logical leap to imagine that the body of water in this book is in his backyard.
We vacation on Lake Michigan occasionally and the fact that it’s called ‘the beach’, gave us pause the first time we heard it. “We’re going to the shore”, I tried to correct our local host. I’m not positive, but I think they corrected me in their most northern Michigan demeanor by saying that they call it ‘a beach.’ They followed it up by telling me about the joys of finding Petoskey Stones along the shore and to chill out, which is exactly what that water did. I rationalized the beach/shore chasm by realizing that a big lake, one that you can’t see the other side of, is called a beach. It’s also worth stating that vacationing in northern Michigan is lovely and worth putting on your list of places, or beaches to visit, but back to Just One Wave.
There are no waves on Lake Michigan. If it’s storming or a boat has recently sped across the water there might be a ripple, but it’s not a wave. It’s like Crocodile Dundee telling that street punk it’s not a knife, and then referencing waves big enough to support your weight as you surf towards the beach. The local lake near you probably has ‘waves’ that fall under that same category.
The young boy in Just One Wave has that issue. In his mind’s eye he sees waves that are big enough to do those things and that’s all he wants to do. However, when his family gets to the beach the lake is as flat as the horizon. He waits, asks the birds for help, builds a massive sandcastle in hopes of taunting the waves to leave their self-imposed surface tension, but no luck. In his frustration he throws a rock in the lake, which does finally create a wave. This allows him to realize that he can do cannonballs into the lake, which creates just one (big) wave for his younger sister. She’s overjoyed at this newfound splash, starts laughing and the family waves goodbye at the lake until next summer.
Just One Wave is the illustrated book that pre-k and early elementary school kids will consume in many different ways. It’s just long enough to where the guest reader or teacher can read it to the class, stopping occasionally because someone wants to share the time they saw a wave. This allows you to ask the class who has been to a coastal beach, a lake, or a pond. The text in the book is sparse and very patient. This is a great effect if the read-aloud person slows their delivery to match the staccato presentation. You can have those young audiences grinning with anticipation because they might be able to read the words ahead of you, but are enjoying the show too much to ask you to speed it up.
Because the text is so simple, and the art is so engaging, it will bring those young audiences back to the book when they’re alone. It has a combination of close-up and beach illustrations that ebb and flow the speed of the story. The illustrations look like watercolor and caulk, allowing the colors and emotions to meld together in a dreamy, sunset manner.
This beach is wherever you need it to be. Kids will love the frustration that the main character goes through. It will remind them of the time when the waves during their summer vacation were too big or too small. Just One Wave will be a conversation starter for that circle time crowd or a den of solace when kid just want o chill out with a good book.
Just One Wave is by Travis Jonker and is available on Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams Books.
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