Beach
by Elisha Cooper
Book Summary Information
Author: Elisha CooperEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-06-01
ISBN: 0439687853
Number of pages: 40
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Orchard Books
Book Reviews of Beach
Book Review: 4 1/2 Beachy Keen!
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the most beautifully illustrated books I've seen in the past few years, I still have to give "Beach" a small demerit for the frustratingly small mini-pictures of beach activites. Otherwise this is just a gorgeous, well written paeon to everything beachy, with impressionistic panoramas and straightforward sentences that get to the heart of the beach scene.
The delicately shaded, bright watercolors capture place, people, and movement like few other picture books. The book unfolds just as a day at the beach might, as people gather and populate the beach, so do clouds and birds, waves and umbrellas. The books engulfs you with these pictures, inviting you to play with the cloud images and the various activities both in and out of the water. You can smell it. You can taste it. Even though the content and style of the pictures has a slightly 1960's feeling to it, the images are transcendant, and their quality gives this "classic" status.
I'll return to that one misgiving. Every few pages, Cooper crowds some very small pictures onto one page. These unframed pictures have plenty of white space around them--the problem is they're just too small. Toddlers and older small fry may have trouble distinguishing some of the activities (especially if they're unfamiliar with water activities), and just forget about these pages in group settings. I'd suggest holding the panoramas high for everyone to see, with an invitation to view the "little pictures" later. (Alternately, you could photocopy those pages and hand then out to prevent sharing difficulties!)
Some of my fondest memories (and one frightening one) are of the beaches where I grew up, and I've never lived more than 20 miles away from the coast. "Beach" is an antidote to cloudy days, a vision for those who've never been, and a visual delight for adults and their young-uns. Cooper portrays the constant magic in the everchanging beach scene, and balances the grandly majestic with the smaller-scale diversity of the beachgoers. Recommended for all ages: Non-readers, pre-readers, and veteran readers. All will rejoice in Cooper's illuminated/illuminating watercolors.
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