SUMMER AT THE SEASHORE

An unseen narrator presents various seashore discoveries made on a day at the beach.

From shells and animals to beach equipment and sand castles, children can search and find, count and identify various basic items and shapes as mentioned in the cumulative, repetitive narration. “I went for a walk at the seashore today. / I saw pretty little seashells, one diving gray dolphin, and two striped beach umbrellas. / The beach umbrellas were shaped like triangles!” Simplified, one-dimensional shapes printed in primary colors and arrayed against a sandy-hued background depict each addition as described with one particular adjective. As the narration builds, the scene becomes ever more crowded, encouraging readers to spend time exploring not only the new, but the previous as well. A final page offers the entire cumulative narration with each successive article lined up in numbered order for children to count up one more time from the seashells and the dolphin all the way up to “10 running dogs.” As they are introduced, numbers are spelled out in the text, but this final, summative page uses numerals instead, for a little bit of extra learning. The interaction afforded by this straightforward search, find, and identify recitation should encourage multiple readings.

This eventful walk makes for a hardworking little book.