The Lost Board

The exploits of a beloved family surfboard propel this earnest story from Feagan. Hanging on Lana’s mother’s surf-shop wall, the board, “aged by weather, use, and love,” is venerated as the vessel upon which generations of women in the family learned to ride waves. After going out solo and losing the board in a big swell, Lana expects familial ire but instead finds “love for all of the memories the board had given them./ Love for the generations of surfers it carried.” Meanwhile, the board floats along, becoming “a pirate ship, a storm-tossed toy, a lifesaver, and a bit of flotsam” before it’s discovered by a new child who furthers the cycle by using it to learn to surf. Watercolor-like effects appropriately appear throughout informal, loose-edged digital renderings, with vignettes in hues of seafoam, algae, and parchment capturing the board’s prehistory. It’s a personal-feeling tribute to surfing that spotlights the sport as one driven by chance, love, and resilience. Protagonists are portrayed with brown skin; background characters have various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)