The Seashore Book

I love this book for many reasons, but the main reason is that the cadence of the story puts my son to sleep. We have been using this book as the third of three bedtime stories for about 1 1/2 years now and it still works.

I liked The Seashore Book because the mother and her son used their imagination almost always. The boy had never seen the ocean so he imagined the sea. His mother tells the boy about the sea. Charlotte Zolotow creates very good mind pictures. It almost feels like you're there.

In The Seashore Book, Charlotte Zolotow creates an image of a day at the seashore so clearly that a reader could almost hear the seagulls and feel the ocean breeze caress the face. Zolotow chooses the perfect words to describe the sights and sounds of the seashore. When she describes the lighthouse "golden gleam on, golden gleam gone" the reader can easily imagine a summer evening on Cape Hatteras with a golden light shining out to sea. The illustrations are no less impressive. One can almost feel the sun warming the skin and the sand rubbing against your toes. I often give the book as a baby gift. It is one that you could share with a child over and over or enjoy yourself when you need a reminder of sun and sand on a dreary winter day.