WHEN THE TIDE IS LOW

While a little girl waits for the tide to be low so the two can go to the beach, her mother explains about high and low tides, playfully pushing her high and low on the swing as she does. Meanwhile they talk about the fiddler crabs and sea anemones and other creatures they will see on the beach. It's an artificial conversation set up to convey information to readers, though the swing parallel works nicely. The illustrator does all right by the animals discussed but her people are sickly-pale, with ineptly drawn unnatural smiles; and her dappled watercolor is mawkish. An appended, illustrated glossary describes the sea animals in more detail, but in terms well beyond the designated four-to-five-year-old audience. The book could be used by families visiting a similiar beach, but factual content and emotional tone don't mesh as intended.