I loved Thao Lam’s Everybelly, and suggest it to everyone.
Since I read that book, I’ve been seeking more by her, and that led me to her 2022 picture book The Line in the Sand.
Since it is Thao Lam, the art is fantastic. (You can take that as a given.)
However, this book didn’t work as well for me as Everybelly.
I love the ambition. It is a wordless book focusing on…creatures? Monsters? Aliens? Since the book lack words, I’m not sure. They are different colors and different shapes, and have different limbs and different numbers of limbs and eyes. One recurring figure may be robotic (not sure). They are pleasant to look at.
They fill a large, not particularly differentiated space. (The title indicates sand, but honestly, it is so even and abstracted, that without the title, I wouldn’t be sure.) There’s a line through the area, and some conflict occurs related to the conflict. A green entity seems to block a reddish-orange entity from crossing the line. The reddish-orange distracts the green, then stomps on its foot. Green flails, falls, and knocks reddish-orange down. The line is drawn thicker, and then both entities kick stuff (sand?). Mouths are opened wide, suggesting screaming, and limbs are pointed. They disrupt the entire area around them, and, when they pause, see that the other entities have moved a bit away from them. There are a number of lines drawn, some of which are being crossed, and the combatants seem to reach a peaceful accord. They laugh, and appear to become friends.
After they reach an accord, the creature cluster is more active and interactive, and they seem happier. There are a number of lines in the sand, and the creature who drew the original solo line is still drawing them here.
The images are good, and make for a lot of “Oh cool, look at that!” moments. But it wasn’t clear what the original line was for (play? sand doodle? boundary?), and so it wasn’t clear if the conflict over the line was someone changing the game or someone breaking the law.
