A Sailor Who Captured the Sea: A Story of the Book of Kells by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

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A Sailor Who Captured the Sea: A Story of the Book of Kells
by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

Having seen a few pages of the Book of Kells in person in Dublin, this book caught my eye when I passed it on the shelves in the library this week.

This is a simply gorgeous book. Each page has a boarder around it with designs quite similar to the Book of Kells; you get little details and illustrations around the page and a beautiful illustration within each page as well. They story of three brothers who give up their crafts to work on the book (and by doing so, trying to save Ireland from invading Vikings). One, a seaman, doesn't see how his skills relate to the book. He ends up saving a boy from a shipwrecked Viking ship. But, eventually, the carvings on the ship make their way into the book and even though the book isn't finished, the Vikings recognize the images and the book, monastery, and its people are saved.

I had a sense that a lot of the story was being left out; it didn't read all that poetically to me, the way a lot of abridged tales read. It seemed like there were a lot of complexities that were left out in order to make it a tale children could read/relate to. It was still a good story, just one I had to work to follow in a full places. Really, though, the best part of the book are all the illustrations. It really brings out the unique quality of the work.