The Seashore Book

In this book, a mother helps her son imagine being at the seashore, playing, building a sandcastle, running, napping, and having fun. The book is full of excellent discriptions; it even contains a metaphor. There are several good vocabulary words in it as well.

A story about a boy who has never been to the beach because he lives in the mountains. His mom tells him a story about what their day at the beach would be like. This book is extremely descriptive to where you can picture it in your mind.

(descriptive picture book, heavy imagery) When I first was assigned this book during a RIF function to read to my children in the library, I was concerned it was too wordy for the youngest students and afraid it would bore the oldest students. I was wrong on both accounts. This book had a magical

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mesmerizing effect on all the grades I read to that day, from Pre-k all the way up to second grade. Not only did the children enjoy hearing the story, but I enjoyed reading it. It became a personal challenge to convey the beauty of spending a day at the beach more effectively and efficiently to the children the more I read the book repeatedly that day to each grade level. You can only read a book so many times, right? Wrong! On that day, I relished finding ways using Charlotte Zolotow's heavy imagery to bring the beach alive for many children who had never been anywhere before on that day. Her writing made it easy as did my colleague's idea to bring in seashells for further visualizations. We took turns reading the book with eyes closed and open. We read the book with the children lying down on their backs. We sang a "sandpiper" song, and made sand art. When I asked the children if they felt like they had spent the day on the beach, most of them answered with a breathless, "Oh yes, Ms. Birney"! and smiles. You can't ask more from a children's book that that.

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Children will love this libary read out loud, as they are drawn into the mother's beautiful description to her son, of the sights, sounds, smells and feel of the beach.

Grab another large slim book or piece of cardboard. Lay it over the images on the right-hand pages as you read the text on the left-hand pages. Try to picture yourself in the scene, seeing the images, before you reveal the image. I surely do wish I'd had the sense to do that, or that the book was

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designed to make you turn the page to see the image for each section of text. After all, the concept of the book is that a mother is helping her child understand what the seashore is, though he's never seen it.

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Living in the mountains, and never having seen the sea, the young boy in this evocative picture-book asks his mother about the shore, and she spins him a poetic tale of what he would do during a day and evening at the beach. From playing in the sand to taking a nap under the sun, the boy

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experiences the tranquil joy of the seashore through his mother's words...

Originally published in 1992, and just reissued in this 25th Anniversary Edition this year (2017), The Seashore Book offers a beautiful examination, not just of the pleasures of a day at the shore, but also of the power of words and the imagination to transport us to far-off places. I found Charlotte Zolotow's narrative soothing, and imagine that this would make an excellent bedtime selection. The artwork by Wendell Minor, which in this anniversary edition includes a new cover, is absolutely lovely, capturing the pale beauty of the shore to perfection. I'm so glad that Minor managed to get this new edition released, so that another generation of children can experiences the pleasures of The Seashore Book. Recommended to anyone looking for engaging children's books about the beach, the sea, and/or the power of the imagination.

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A young boy that lives in the mountains and has never been to the sea asks his mother to describe what a day at the seashore would be like.

illustrations great

Zolotow's beautiful prose reads like poetry. For any child who wants to see something he/she can't (seashore, mountain, forest, etc.), this book shows that you can go anywhere in your imagination. Minor's marvelous, soft illustrations will make you feel like you truly are spending a day by the sea.