A children’s literature classic in Taiwan, this book saw the nation’s most famous children’s author and illustrator join forces to create an adventure about the small paper boats that take the leap to sail down the river and out to sea.

Deep in the mountains, a young boy takes a sheet of red paper and folds it into a tiny boat before placing it in a stream where it floats past villages and paddy fields, marveling at the bigger boats around it. Meanwhile, in the city a little girl creates a boat from a white piece of paper and places it in a gutter, where the water from the rainstorm washes it away into the river. When the two boats meet, they realize they both dream of seeing the sea, but will it all be smooth sailing from here?

The Little Paper Boats That Went to See the Sea is a classic in Taiwan and was a collaborative creation by the pioneering children’s writer Lin Liang, and the innovative illustrator Cheng Ming-Chin. The first edition is now over forty years old, and while it has gone through many revisions over the intervening decades, the book is still beloved by adults and children alike.