1, 2, 3...BY THE SEA

At the beach, a counting book, some rhyme, and perhaps some questionable visions.

A curly-haired child, possibly a boy, and his mother ride on their bikes from their little cottage to the beach not far away, accompanied by Max, the dog. (No helmets.) “Striped umbrellas in the sun… / flapping, snapping. / We rent ONE,” with a big numeral “1” as well as the word. They go on to TWO towels, then THREE jellyfish, SIX surfers and TEN plovers in the beach grass. An unnumbered coda describes the denouement: the snack-shack, watching the sunset and back to the pretty cottage. The pictures are bright and colorful and lively of line, but some of them are a little odd. Mom, kid and dog seem to be in the water fully clothed and quite near the three jellyfish, and one would really not want to be so close to their stinging tentacles. The surfers (including a dog) are nicely multiethnic, but the waves and surfers are impossibly close to shore. The large numerals are often nearly the same color as the background (the blue 8 blends into the sky, the yellow 9 into the sand).

This is not the counting book you were looking for, despite its sunny, salty tone.