The little boat by Kathy Henderson illustrated by Patrick Benson

Imaginative play is such an important part of childhood.  In this book the little boy finds a piece of polystyrene plastic to which he adds a stick for a mast and some string for a sail.  He happily plays with his boat all day down by the edge of the sea until the wind pulls the boat far away from the shore and on towards the oceans far from land.

"On sailed the little boat all alone and the further it sailed the bigger grew the ocean until all around was sea and not a sign of land not a leaf not a bird not a sound just the wind"

The little boats journeys on through storms until it is grabbed by a great fish and then spat out. The little boat eventually washes up on a new shore where is it found by a girl and "all day long she splashed and and she played with the boat she'd found at the edge of the sea singing 'We are unsinkable my boat and me!"

The little boat is a wonderful book to read aloud and the illustrations perfectly capture the journey of the boat, the changing landscapes and the immense size of the oceans around the world.