osprey_archer | Picture Book Monday: Down to the Beach

Picture Book Monday returns! I have decided that I owe it to my little niece and myself to dive back into the picture book world to bring up the pearls for her delectation.

Also, last week was very slow at work, so I decided it was time to add all the books Barbara Cooney has illustrated to my list of books to check out from my libraries. Soon I realized that Barbara Cooney illustrated about a million books (including Felix Salten’s Bambi which I may finally read?), but by then it was far too late to turn back.

So I started with May Garelick’s Down to the Beach, a joyful celebration of, well, summer at the beach. There are boats! hermit crabs! a crab shack! a dog shaking off the ocean water then digging a hole in the sand for a nap! and of course many happy children frolicking and building sand castles.

One of Cooney’s strengths as an illustrator is to build a tiny world that you want to step into: the little beach, the three summer cottages up on the shore, the crab shack on the distant pier, the sailboat with the red-and-white candy-striped sail. A charming escape.