The Boy Who Held Back the Sea

My husband lived in the Netherlands for two years, so we've seen a few pictures and heard a few stories. When we checked this book out through the library, I knew we had to have it. The story is simple, and the pictures are amazing and penetrating classics.

This book tells a version of the story of the little Dutch boy who holds back the sea with his finger. In this version, the boy is a bit naughty. He gets to skip church by offering to carry a pie to blind man, but then eats the pie himself instead of delivering it. When he finds the leaky dike, nobody believes him because he is known to be such a troublemaker. As a result, he ends up spending the night alone by the dike and has to endure a raging storm before he and the dike are rescued. The book is a little scary but it's a good engaging story. The pictures are all done in the style of the Dutch Masters. It has about 1000 words.