Abuelo, the Sea, and Me is a tender, heartwarming picture book that vividly explores intergenerational connections, family history, and the immigrant experience.

When this grandchild visits her abuelo, he takes her to the ocean. In summer, they kick off their shoes and let the cool waves tickle their toes. In winter, they stand on the cliff and let the sea spray prick their noses and cheeks. No matter the season, hot or cold, their favorite place to spend time together is the beach.

It’s here that Abuelo is able to open up about his youth in Havana, Cuba. As they walk along the sand, he recalls the tastes, sounds, and smells of his childhood. And with his words, Cuba comes alive for his grandchild.

• Imprint Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan

• Reading Age: 4-8 years

• Publication Date: May 21, 2024

• ISBN 13: 9781250848772

• ISBN 10: 1250848776

TEACHING GUIDE for

ABUELO, THE SEA, AND ME

REVIEWS

Over the course of four seasons, a child and their abuelo connect during visits in this loving intergenerational book that looks both forward and back. The child’s first-person narration offers sensory-rich descriptions of the pair’s trips to the beach. In summer, “the hot sand burns until we slip into the cool water,” and the child hears stories about Abuelo’s youth in Havana. In autumn, “geese chase the vanishing sun south, toward the island Abuelo fled,” and further seasons offer more about Abuelo’s life as a medal-winning swimmer in Cuba. Abuelo’s longing for home also reveals the speaker’s growing emotional awareness. Gardel’s delicate digital art has the feel of watercolors on textured paper; the pair’s strong bond becomes focal in images of the two holding hands and echoing one another in posture or expression. In English and Spanish, Williams’s narration portrays the power of place and memory in facilitating bonding. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Creator notes conclude. Ages 4–8. (May)

-Publisher’s Weekly

Season by season, a child learns about Abuelo’s past life in Cuba.

The young narrator visits Abuelo several times a year, and they always go to the beach near his home. Starting in summer, the child gets glimpses into the life Abuelo led before he fled Cuba. “In Havana,” he says, “marlín and delfín would leap right there!” Though he smiles at the memories of pineapple, guava, and coconut ice cream, his reminisces are tinged with sadness, too. Abuelo won medals for his swimming prowess, but he left them behind in Cuba. He misses his homeland “so much it hurts,” but he’s grateful to still have the ocean he loves, as well as his family, including his grandchild. This confidently told story, made up of brief moments between Abuelo and the grandchild, gets deeper as it goes on, with richly textured digital illustrations highlighting the changing light and weather as summer, fall, winter, and spring each take their turn. Without ever becoming overly sentimental, the book conveys how past and present simultaneously coexist for Abuelo. The sky fills with clouds shaped like dolphins and marlins after Abuelo reminisces about them, and large medals, like the ones Abuelo won back in Cuba, wash in with the tide. Spanish words are incorporated throughout.

A deftly told immigrant’s story of bittersweet memories and a grandparent’s love.

-Kirkus

PreS-Gr 3 - An unnamed Cuban American girl and her grandfather share an affinity for the ocean. Whenever she visits her grandparents’ house, the pair stroll the beach. Williams’s heartfelt, pensive narrative follows them through the four seasons as they contemplate the changing moods of the sea, dip in the water, and picnic. As Abuelo shares his memories of the sea in Havana, the girl senses his profound sadness at leaving the island behind. But Abuelo reassures her that both their bond and the ocean have the power to help him heal from the past. Gardel’s quiet illustrations feature choice details, including a recurring motif of dolphins. This picture book affirms intergenerational storytelling and memory-making while celebrating the immigrant undertaking of coming to terms with the past and living in the present.

-School Library Journal

In this moving picture book, a child and grandfather spend time together near the ocean and through the four seasons.  The child listens to stories of life near a different beach, in Havana, Cuba, where Abuelo grew up. Memories are all that Abuelo has from his beloved home country; when the grandchild asks to see swimming medals that he won there, he says, “I left them behind. I do not even have pictures.” But the pair still enjoys the temperate beach outside Abuelo’s new home, stopping for creamsicles instead of guayaba ice cream and experiencing snow and icy winter storms rather than hurricanes. Warm watercolor-esque digital illustrations guide readers through the oceanside seasons, blending in symbols of tropical island memories: marlins and dolphins in the clouds, palm trees in Abuelo’s eyes. The child worries that  Abuelo is sad when he thinks about Cuba, and though he is, he assures the child, “But I still have the ocean…Most  importantly, I have you.” A gentle text that offers a nuanced and relatable perspective on the bittersweetness of remembering a faraway home and that celebrates the relationship between grandparent and grandchild. Appended author and illustrator notes express heartfelt personal connections.

-Horn Book

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Abuelo, The Sea, and Me by Ismee Williams

Summertime is the best time to visit grandparents and Abuelo, the Sea, and Me is a heartwarming picture book that lovingly showcases the bond of a grandpa and his grandchild and explores heritage, the immigrant experience, and more. This is the perfect story to share with your little one about the importance of building relationships with the elders in our lives.