Children and adults will enjoy, not only the story, but the absolutely gorgeous illustrations.

Thank you to Red Comet Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. My review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.

We loved this book. The illustrations are so pretty. The story was a great bedtime read because it kept my son interested throughout. But seriously these illustrations are top notch.

The secret of the magic pearl is a cute & adventurous story about a little boy & his family. As others have said, the illustrations are remarkable. The story is long in length, but perfect for those just starting to read “harder” books. Also a fun story for younger children who love to sit & listen to stories for extended periods.

The artwork is absolutely gorgeous but the formatting for the ARC makes the story unreadable. From a parenting perspective, the book seems to be very text heavy and unlikely to be read more than once. My kids probably would have loved flipping through the pictures and telling me their own story to go with them. As a young, exhausted parent, I would have hated trying to read this much to my young child. It's pretty, but it is not child or family friendly... And that's without knowing at all what the story is about.

Things I liked:
- The art style! It was so whimsical and bright and enjoyable for readers of all ages. The illustrative choices were perfectly aligned with the nautical and childlike aesthetic of the story itself.
- The story of the pearl. What a wonderful adventure. It was well paced out and I felt like the plot points were easy to understand yet complex enough to not be overly predictable.
- The characters of the world. They felt fleshed out to create a balanced cast.

Things I didn't like:
- That the art was mostly done in the form of smaller illustrations of single characters or props instead of providing us with full-page spreads to experience the atmosphere and vivid imagery more directly.
- The very end of the story. The description of the town felt very out of place. It should have been explained at the beginning perhaps with an illustration of a map to set the scene. It felt odd to wedge in there at the last minute.

Overall: an enjoyable tale, yet one I felt like missed a few visual opportunities.

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

4/5 - Great illustrations and a cute story. Would recommend.

This was a lovely story of a little boy finding his place in the world and discovering his love of things hidden in the sea. The illustrations are out-of-this-world. I couldn't get enough of looking at the pictures, which are vibrant, quirky, and absolutely beautiful. I love the nostalgic style of the diving helmets and the way in which Bruno brought each character to vivid life through the inclusion of little details in every portrait.

The story was sweet, but I thought it was a little confusing. As some have noted, the description of the town being at the end did not make a lot of sense. There also wasn't much of a resolution. This could be an issue of translation.

Ultimately, the illustrations made this book special. I would recommend this to anyone with children, especially if those children are curious about the natural world.

This book is insanely beautiful. My kid wanted me to read the chapters to him, I just wanted to look at every tiny detail of each illustration. There is more and more to see with each viewing. The entire book is just lovely lovely lovely.