A boy turns into a shark in the heartwarming children’s picture book Felix and the Magic Sea.

Felix and his mother live in a house at the edge of the ocean. They enjoy building sandcastles and collecting shells, but Felix’s mother warns him not to fall into the sea, where she might not be able to reach him.

When Felix is seven, a large wave hits, and Felix slips into the sea and disappears. His mother looks for him but finds only a strange little shark that nudges her for attention and whose eyes seem familiar. It speaks, telling her it’s her son, transformed into a baby shark.

Every morning, they walk and swim alongside each other on the beach, but every afternoon her son gets chased away by a larger shark. Felix grows to become a large white shark himself, and one day he disappears again. Many years later, the house is sinking into the sea, and Felix returns to introduce his mother to his family. The mother slips into the sea and becomes a shark too, swimming away with Felix, his wife, and his child.

An entertaining, elegantly written story, the book also serves as an affecting, emotional allegory, symbolizing the natural course of human children growing up and the difficulties of a parent letting go. When Felix becomes a shark, he’s no longer the child his mother remembers, but she still loves him. He leaves to pursue his own path, but never forgets his mother and returns to welcome her into his own new family.

The art is excellent, with soft colors that perfectly complement the dreamlike magical realism of the story.

Felix and the Magic Sea is a touching picture book with a satisfying message about a boy who changes in time but maintains a long-lasting bond with his mother.

Also available in paperback and ebook.