HERE & THERE

By Thea Lu

 

(Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024)

 

 

 

There are homebodies and there are those with constant wanderlust. Here and There celebrates both. 

 

The double-page spread format of picture books allows author and illustrator Thea Lu to chronicle the parallel lives of two people, on the surface starkly different, but more similar in terms of how they think and feel.

 

Dan, the homebody representing “Here,” owns a café in a small town by the sea. Aki, the wanderer representing “There,” is a sailor at sea. Dan is content to stay put while Aki is always heading somewhere. If Dan is akin to an oak tree with big roots in place, Aki is a migratory gull embarking on one continuous journey.

 

As different as these two men are, they sometimes pine for another kind of life…one perhaps like that of the other.

 

Outside Dan’s window is the view he has

known for his whole life...

When the wind is blowing, he sometimes

wonders what life is like in other places.

 

Aki’s…never had a place to call home.

When the machine [in the engine room]

is booming, he sometimes wishes for

an old friend to talk with. 

 

The book doesn’t celebrate Dan’s comfort at home and in the café nor Aki’s sea exploits; instead, each savors the truly special moments, things that stand out from their “ordinary” lives. For Dan, he’s enthralled by stories from café patrons, visiting from faraway places. Aki, in turn, enjoys the local hospitality when he docks in port, being treated to a homemade meal or becoming a guest in a home where “[t]he bedding was soft and the room was warm.”

 

Through inference and “reading” the pictures, we discover that Dan and Aki one day meet, each hanging onto a keepsake from the occasion. As different as their lives are and will continue to be, the men find commonality through a chance connection. 

 

This is one of those quiet, beautifully illustrated picture books I imagine enchanting adults perhaps more than children. And why not? There are no age recommendations on picture book covers. Notably, the main characters are adults.

 

Illustrations for Dan’s story are predominately colored in earthy and woody browns while pictures accompanying Aki’s story are filled in with sea blues and grays. Lu, based in Shanghai, originally published the book in Chinese in 2022, then translated the current English edition. 

 

The story appears to be inspired by two actual people whose lives may resemble that of Dan and Aki. On the title page, Lu’s acknowledgments include, “Thanks to the dive guide and the owner of the no-name café in Cambridge for sharing their life stories with me.” The fact they are not named, not even by their first names, adds to the intrigue…a reward for readers who attend to the fine print.

 

This book would be a gentle adult-to-child read, a chance to linger over the soft, vivid illustrations. Really, much would be lost (conversely, little to be learned) from too quick of a read. It would be fun for both the reader and the listener to speculate over whether they identify more with Dan or Aki, not just as to their vocations but, on broader terms, the lifestyles they live. If missed on the first read, a second or third read might show both Dan and Aki have a keepsake of the other. Discovering the evidence may delight the reader, helping them see the extra reward that comes from giving extra attention to a books’ illustrations.

 

Definitely worth tracking this book down.