Nineteenth-century Cape Cod is the backdrop for this lyrical picturebook about a young girl waiting for her father to return from an ocean journey. As the seasons pass, her baby brother learns to walk, storms come and go, and the girl wonders how her father is and whether he's thinking of her, too. Susan Lendroth's gentle, rhyming text pairs with first-time illustrator Ra?ã‚Ñ¢l All?©n's stunning illustrations to produce a timeless tale about the absence of a parent, and the power of love to cross distances as wide and deep as the ocean.

"Children in the contemporary equivalent of the narrator'¬?s situation-a son or daughter anxious about an absent parent'¬?s well-being-will appreciate both the distance afforded by the period setting and the comfort of the melodic language and happy ending."-Publishers Weekly"...set in the past, this book will speak to contemporary children who suffer the absence of a parent due to work, divorce, or war."-Washington Parent