JUST A SHELL...OR IS IT?

A playful day at the shore offers thought-provoking perspective.

On the title page, a diverse group of children go to the beach, buckets and spades in hand. On successive spreads, one youngster after another finds an object that readers may recognize from their own seaside play: the titular shell, a piece of driftwood, a stone, a sand pile, and a wave. In an inventive twist, McMurdie invites little ones to consider how different creatures might regard each of these, presenting the shell, for example, as a door for a clam, a shield for an octopus, and a tool for an otter, before a child proclaims, “But to me, it’s a TREASURE!” Similarly, the driftwood is a raft for a pelican, a pillow for a seal, and a pencil for an enterprising youngster drawing in the sand. When the wave crashes over the “KINGDOM” of sandcastles the children have created from the sand pile, one youngster sees that all is not lost, since the wave washes to shore new objects to behold with wonder. Throughout, Escobar’s warm palette creates enticing digitally rendered scenes for readers to pore over as they follow along with the children’s imaginative play.

Not just another beach book, but encouragement to look again—and again.