Sam Who Was Swallowed By a Shark

Sam is a river rat who dreams of the sea. His practical neighbors remind him that he should be tending his garden and mending his fence. But Sam wants to go to sea, so he builds a seaworthy boat and sails away. While his neighbors worry about what happened to him, Sam happily sails across the "wild green waves". Written by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, this was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in 1995.