FOLLOWING THE COAST

Follow the author and his wife on their annual drive from Florida to Delaware as they travel from salt marsh to salt marsh, observing and sketching the wildlife therein. Pen-and-ink drawings share space with watercolors, pleasingly overlaying one another on the page; the borders of the full-color illustrations form the contours of the part of the coast under discussion. The text offers observations on the nature of a salt marsh, discusses the different places to spot wildlife (look over the tops of the grasses, examine the blades of grass, and focus on the ground), and offers appreciations of the ways human coastal dwellers live and work among the animals. It’s a more personal work than most of Arnosky’s oeuvre, taking on more of the characteristic of a living-room slide show than a traditional informational book. As such, it will disappoint readers in search of hard facts about salt marshes, but those who want to spend some time on the road with one of children’s literature’s most enthusiastic observers of nature will be rewarded. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-10)