A Gull's Story: A Talke of Learning about Life, the Shore, and the ABCs

I am an alphabet book collector who grew up in the midwest. But, twenty years ago I went on a tall mast ship cruise off the cost of Maine and fell in love with the eastern seaboard. This alphabet book captures the joy, pensiveness, intrigue, beauty, and attraction of the Atlantic Ocean and its "adventures." As Papa Gull said to his young offspring, "The Atlantic is mother to us all. . . . Appreciate who you are." And so begins a lyric tale about a gull family and its journey along a seaboard and through the alphabet. As alphabet books go, this one is 3 standard deviations above the mean. It tells a story. It develops sophisticated vocabulary (with a glossary, I might add). And, it captures the joyful journeys of any family. In this case, it was gulls. I might quibble with the letter "n" and its illustration of only Caucasian children. All children might love gulls and the shoreline. But, for the joy of a trek and story along the shore, this one is hard to beat. Share it with your children, regardless of where you live.

Being a lifelong resident of the Jersey Shore, I couldn?t resist buying ?The Gull?s Story? for my two daughters, ages 4 and 7. My little one spotted this book first because of the beautiful illustrations of the various birds and animals, but I have to admit, I was curious myself as to how this book would read and represent the shore area to others. We loved it so much, I was forced to buy another so each of my daughters could keep one for their own. For anyone who hasn?t read this book with their children, its a beautifully written book about the life of a seagull and his creature friends who live on the Jersey Shore .. perfect book to read before bedtime. Another book we recommend (also illustrated by Margie Moore) is ?The Little Brown Bear ? Count the Ways,? a favorite especially for my 4 year old since she is still learning her numbers and letters. You will believe the animals in these stories are real by the way Ms. Moore brings out each of their little personalities. I believe this illustrator is a genius in her field of art and her talent of depicting the lives of the creatures in each story told. ?The Gull Story? is a ?must have? book for any child whether you live on the shore or not.