On the Edge of the Sea - Softcover

PreSchool-Grade 2-- An uninspired poem in which a featureless young boy relates his dream of living on the shore in a sand castle. Friends arrive to spend the day, relax in candy-striped chairs, eat hot dogs, and frolic in the waves. The tone becomes slightly more fanciful as beach balls descend from the sky and a large iceberg floats across the page. In the evening, the boy's hat is captured by the wind and deposited on the edge of the moon. Standing on the beach as an adult, the narrator muses, ``I never had another dream as wonderful as that,/ But sometimes when I see the moon I wonder/ Why I never found my hat.'' Although the verses read smoothly enough, their singsong rhythm eventually becomes monotonous. The acrylic paintings, which depict scene after scene of brightly costumed bathers, have a textured look that suits the subject matter; however, many of the spreads are painted from the same point of view, resulting in a repetitive layout. Neither verbal nor visual images are particularly evocative, making this day at the beach easy to forget. --Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"A thoroughly winning debut," said PW of this mother-son collaboration that joins her rhymes with his "mischievous, animated illustrations" of "delightfully tubby beach-goers frolicking in the surf." Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.