With its alternating stories and poems, this does for the sea what Yolen's 'Here There Be Dragons' did for dragons, but with one major difference: in this book, almost every piece is sad. These are not pleasant bedtime stories, though each one is enjoyable and beautifully composed in its own way -- many of them end in death or heartbreak, and perhaps the reader is meant to understand that the sea always causes one or the other, and sometimes both. Its melancholy tone makes it a little less likely a read-aloud as the other was, but there is still a certain cadence to the poems and several of the stories that begs to be voiced and not just read. Yolen is good at that -- bringing out the reader's urge to share the story. ( )

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