SUMMER BEACH DAY

A toddler’s introduction to the beach becomes a vehicle to present some basic concepts and vocabulary.

This small, square volume homes in on the elements most crucial to a happy day at the shore. A couple of sentences of text with one or two boldfaced terms appear at the bottom of each left-hand page. The items in bold are depicted above the text against a plain white background and then placed into some context in the fuller illustrations occupying the right-hand pages. For example, illustrations of a shovel and pail appear above the text: “This is my shovel and this is my pail. I’m using my shovel to fill my pail with sand. Look! My pail is almost full.” The right-hand page depicts a smiling pink-skinned toddler playing happily with the pail and shovel in a patch of sand. Other items introduced are the sun, the toddler’s swimming trunks and sun hat, shells, water wings, water and ice cream cones. The simple illustrations—featuring bold outlines, vivid colors, and the same cheerful tot—are a good complement to the brief, descriptive text, and together they make a helpful primer on the basics of beachgoing.

Appealing nonfiction for the littlest learners.