The Boy Who Held Back the Sea by Thomas Locker
 
From the award-winning and renowned illustrator Thomas Locker, beautiful oil-painted illustrations pair with this wonderful retelling of the traditional Dutch folktale. 

Jan had never done anything more heroic than shout for the guard because he'd imagined he'd seen a sea serpent. But when Jan discovered water trickling through a desolate stretch of the dike that protected his low-lying village, he knew he had to act fast.
 
"Visually stunning."-Publishers Weekly

"Locker's depiction of nature overpowering humanity is especially significant to the story and to the Dutch people who have spent centuries battling the sea."--School Library Journal