Sherry McMillan’s 2011 picture book What the Seal Saw is a quiet, unified pleasure. The pages with words on them all have four lines; in each case, the second and fourth line rhyme. In each quatrain, three of the lines are flat and even. The fourth line curves up and down like a wave, giving a sense of water and motion throughout the book.
Each of the quatrains focuses on the seal and/or its surroundings, and often what the seal sees, or what others see: starfish, the seal disappearing under the waves, geese, barnacles, etc. Often these things have little (imagined) eyes looking back at the seal. Since the book is about seal and water, there’s a lot of blue, gray, and pale green, like the changing water.
There’s no conflict here, but instead an episodic ebb and flow (like the tide) that guides readers from start to finish.
Likewise, there are no high peaks of excitement, but there’s ongoing pleasure: the book is like a pleasant walk along the beach.
