Teacup

On its surface Teacup is a story about a boy who must leave his homeland to find a new place to live. He sails in a large boat, with only a teacup full of earth to keep him company. The way is long and our boy is homesick, but out of the teacup a seed from his home begins to grow—and that's the only hope he needs to keep going.

There is a growing genre of picture books that are meant more for adults than for children, and this book is one of them The story line is fairly simple, but that's purposeful, leaving room for a lot of interpretation. Why is the boy leaving his home? Where is he going? That's up to the reader. The stormy sea can be a metaphor, the teacup and the growing tree are symbolic. This story is a canvas on which you can project your own experience. And it's a beautiful canvas—Matt Otley's paintings are absolutely gorgeous, looking more like they belong in an art exhibit than the pages of a picture book.

The vagueness of the book may be the point, but it's also its downside. Because the story can be anything, it can also be nothing. The boy is not a particularly memorable character, but more of an everyman. The metaphor and the illustrations will be too subtle for very young children. The story can be used to prove whatever point you were hoping to make, but not with any certainity. One begins to wish the story had committed more to an actual plot line, one way or the other. However, with its stunning artwork and quietly familiar story, this parable of the nameless refugee will appeal in a vague, unspoken way to the wanderers, the homeless, the people fleeing from their past, or those who wish to understand, and in some ways that's all it needs to be.

Review by Lauren Shearer
Lauren Shearer writes words for fun and profit. She also makes films, but everyone knows you can't make a profit doing that. Her other hobby is consistently volunteering way too much of her time. You can read more of her reviews here.