A mother reminisces about a sea voyage she took with her young son in this humorous picture-book from Irish author/illustrator Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, describing the events, and continually telling him he wouldn't remember, as he was still a baby. The son, as it turns out, remembers quite a bit that his mother doesn't, recalling all the things he noticed - men falling overboard, and the like - that she didn't...

The humor and entertainment in You, Me and the Big Blue Sea is created through the disjunction of text and image, as the mother recalls something through words, while the son recalls them through visuals. This allows the child reader/listener to be "in the know," and to identify with the young boy. The setting is historical - Victorian, perhaps? - and the ship an old-fashioned sailing vessel, which adds visual charm. The text itself is rhythmical and repetitive, making for a smooth read-aloud. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books featuring seafaring voyages and/or textual-illustrative disagreement. ( )

I read this book to my two nieces, aged 2.5 and 5.

I always enjoy the "story-within-a-story" motif, and seeing how different the narration is from the child's actual memories (even though he "was a baby" and "wouldn't remember"!) is funny as all heck to me.

Doesn't grab my nieces. They just aren't that interested in it. ( )