FAMOUS SEAWEED SOUP
by Antoinette Truglio Martin & illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott
In her first book, Martin structures a family visit to the beach around a clever inversion of ``The Little Red Hen.'' Nobody helps Sara make her soup of seaweed (two kinds), snails, and ``smelly stuff'' from a beachcombing—her parents are busy putting on sunscreen, fixing lunch, taking care of the baby, or reading. Sara doesn't mind at all; she stirs up her concoction with a feather and exacts her penalty: those who didn't help must eat it! Which they cheerfully do, with much slurping and, presumably, little swallowing. An engaging approach to a popular subject, winningly visualized in Westcott's lively illustrations; she summons up the seaside flavor in dozens of deftly captured details—the curl of a sandy bare toe, a curious gull's cocked head, a relaxed parent's smile. Nice. (Picture book. 3-7)