"What are the wild waves saying?" Hattie asked as she walked along the beach at Far Rockaway, but the waves did not reply.  In summer Hattie would paint the sea with a sky as blue as heaven.  In winter she would sketch the tugs and cargo boats going up and down the river.  There in Brooklyn, as the years went by, Hattie watched her papa build houses for new families, saw her sister marry, her brother become a businessman—but "Ach," her mother wondered, "what will become of Hattie?" Hattie knew that one day the wild waves would tell her.

With grace and gentle humor, two-time Caldecott winner Barbara Cooney has created an eloquent portrait of an American era.  From the emerging neighborhoods of Brooklyn to the seascapes of Long Island, she unfolds a world of new Americans—the first generation born in this land of possibilities, yet still secure in the strength of family tradition.  Here is a testament to the inseparability of life and art, and to one child who had the courage to purse her calling, to make a life in art.

From the dust jacket