Author(s): Joanne Schwartz; Sydney Smith
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While a young boy enjoys a summer's day, his thoughts constantly return to his father, who is digging for coal deep under the sea.
Stunning illustrations by Sydney Smith, the award-winning illustrator of Footpath Flowers, show the striking contrast between a sparkling seaside day and the darkness underground where the miners dig. This beautifully understated and haunting story brings a piece of mining history to life. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a mining town will enthral children and move adult readers, as a young boy wakes up to the sound of the sea, visits his grandfather's grave after lunch and comes home to a cosy dinner with his family, but all the while his mind strays to his father digging for coal deep down under the sea.
2018 Kate Greenaway Medal Winner
'This is a lovely book set in the 1950s about a coal-miner's son. The language is simple and the pictures evocative of the stark difference between life aboveground and the work unerneath. The text is gripping and the illustrations beautiful.' - - Kathleen, @ Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop.
"An atmospheric, haunting story" - The Bookseller