Anna lives in a hundred-story apartment building and dreams of the sea. She has never seen it—only discovered it in books, feeding her imagination with what she read. She asks her parents and grandmother repeatedly to take her there, but the answer is always no: "The sea isn't for you." Not from cruelty, but from fear. Anna uses a wheelchair, and the adults around her don't know how to handle her longing. The book The Sea Has No Use is precious for this very reason. It is, first, because of Michele Rossi's text—the director of Rizzoli's narrative division—which moves between the limits and the dreams with equal tenderness. It is precious because of the illustrations by La Bigotta (the stage name of Anna Neudecker), a celebrated tattoo artist who brings Anna's story to life through a stunning interplay of black, white, and sudden bursts of color. And it is precious, finally, because it is genuinely a book written at a child's height. Anna's wheelchair doesn't appear until page 24. Her dreams come first—as they should for any child. And when you truly believe in them, they can come true.
Buy this book through one of the retailers in the Helpfreely network.
If you're a member, a portion of your purchase will be donated to Fede e Luce. (Learn more)
Find it here: