The Book Boat’s In by Cynthia Cotten (review)

Jesse has read every book on his teacher’s shelf, and his only opportunity for fresh material presents when the R. Edwards canal boat library and bookstore floats into his nearby town. Pa lets him explore Mr. Edwards’ offerings while he gets the shovel handle repaired, and Jesse sets his heart on a hardly used edition of The Swiss Family Robinson. At the princely sum of twenty cents, it’s out of his financial reach, but the Edwards will make a return trip in about a week, which leaves Jesse enough time to take on odd jobs to earn the price of the book. Sweeping at the general store, cleaning the stables, chopping wood, and running errands puts coin in his pocket, but by now the book has been sold. Fortunately, there’s still another copy—well worn, but only fourteen cents, and Jesse’s a happy young man. Lessac’s gouache paintings in her signature naïve style are a good match for the early nineteenth-century setting, and the interior scenes of the canal boat should pique audience interest. There’s a bit too much about Jesse’s chores, though, and not nearly enough information on the canal boat itself to satisfy curiosity about this, ahem, novel delivery system. Still, this could be paired successfully with Monica Brown’s Waiting for the Biblioburro (BCCB 9/11) for a look at unique book-borrowing approaches. An historical note on the Erie Canal is included.