Momo celebrating time to read: In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van illustrated by April Chu

Friday, December 5, 2025

In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van illustrated by April Chu

We talk about the magic that happens when you share a book with a child - thinking about the story and the possibilities of hearing rich lyrical language but the other really special part of a picture book can be the way it gives a child an experience of fabulous art and that is certainly the case with this book In a Village by the Sea. It would be wonderful to share this book with a group of children or as part of a library storytelling session and you could also share this book with an art class. You will want to talk about the famous painting: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

I discovered this book in the library where I work as a volunteer because we were gathering books about 'mini beasts'. I was curious about why this book appeared on their curated list. I guess because it contains a cricket but this book is SO much more. I hope you can find this book but it was published in 2015 so you will need to hunt in a library. (note: one online seller here in Australia does list this book but it is over AUS$40).

The way the text works is similar to A Dark Dark Tale by Ruth Brown and also Zoom by Istvan Banyai.

Zoom

Here is part of the text from In a Village by the Sea:

"In a fishing village by the sea there is a small house. In that house, high above the waves is a kitchen. In that kitchen is a bright glowing fire. In that fire is a pot of steaming noodle soup."

I would use the term cinematic to describe the way the illustrations in this book are presented - we start with a view of the village looking over the ocean from a small fishing boat. Come a little closer and you can see one house in the village with a dog looking in the window.

Closer now we see the dog walking into the kitchen. Next page there is a steaming pot of noodles and then we see mother preparing the spices to flavour her soup.

Closer still the baby is yawning in his basket by the fire. Now turn the page and the view completely changes - we are above the scene and can see the kitchen, the table and soup ingredients, the baby and his mother. But the dog has heard a noise under the floorboards so we zoom down again to a close view of the dog's nose and a cricket with several paint brushes - his image almost fills the page. What is he painting? And how does this relate to the mother, her child and their father who is fishing out at sea?