Life for Badger is melancholy without Bear, who lives on the other side of the world. Winter is long and lonely, and their occasional phone calls only make Badger cry. Finally, one day, she has had enough and attempts to cross the offending sea in her rowboat. But soon the sea tosses her back onto the shore. “You are in the way!” Badger shouts in a huff, and surprisingly, the sea responds. “Of what?” The two exchange brief, confounding questions and answers until the sea finally concedes, “Fine … Bring me something nice, and I’ll let you cross.” Easier said than done. Badger bemoans the lack of nice things around her and wonders what exactly makes something “nice.” She tosses in a mushroom, first asking a nearby crow if it counts as “nice.” Next, the sea demands something “unusual,” and then something “loud, and the color of a storm.” Badger grows more confident and lively as she searches. Just as she is considering tossing her new crow friend (who, after all, is loud and the color of a storm) into the sea, she is interrupted by a phone call from Bear. This time, more fully engaged in life on her side of the shore, Badger has “so much to say.” Subtly hilarious and expressive pen-and-watercolor illustrations in a muted color palette accompany a narrative that invites readers to ask questions and offer interpretations about characters’ emotions and motives. (Ages 4-6)