Beach Baby

Starred review from March 28, 2016
Dreamy artwork and verse reassure readers who are headed to bed that “Everything will be here when you wake.” Debut author Elmquist’s writing seems to drift along the seashore as she lists small natural wonders: “Purple starfish/ The goose waddling up from the bay.” MacKay (Butterfly Park), once again working in dramatically lit dioramas, creates a string of gauzy, delicate scenes—the lower half of a seal’s body is obscured by a translucent rolling wave in one image, while a pale, pink moon snail, “a mystery,” almost seems to glow. Enchanting, engaging, and restful. Up to age 3. Illustrator’s agency: Bright Agency.

March 1, 2016

Toddler-PreS-This simple beach story opens with a sleepy-eyed toddler in his mother's arms and her reassurances that "everything will be here when you wake." The litany that follows-a purple starfish, a waddling goose, sand dollars, a seal, a sandpiper, etc.-introduces the familiar sights and sounds at the beach and lulls the baby to sleep. As one might expect, the illustrator employs a lot of earth tones and the artwork is minimalist, using one or two images per page. The cover is engaging-it features a healthy and alert baby enjoying all of the things he thinks that he will miss when he is asleep (pelicans, a sand castle, a moon snail). The soft focus of the internal mixed-media artwork has a dreamlike feel. VERDICT This lovely introduction to a beach environment is a good read for naptime and evening sharing.-Gwen Collier, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, NY

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
A light-skinned mother and drowsy child prepare to leave the beach at the end of the day.Elmquist starts off abruptly, with the mother assuring her child that "everything will be here when you wake," leaving readers to infer the events of the day. Any disorientation will soon fade as she lists that "everything": "Purple starfish / The goose waddling up from the bay / Sand dollars," and more. The text is lyrical without attempting verse, descriptive phrases giving way to sentences without much structural logic but with greatly lulling effect: "The castle waits for you with its turrets and shells / while the moon snail is a mystery." MacKay's evocatively lit cut- and marbled-paper dioramas are equally soothing, rendered in pastel twilight tones that suit the mood. There are very few crisp edges and many hues blend together, adding to the ethereal effect but also gearing the book to older babies who do not require sharp contrast in order to distinguish images. Seals, sandpiper, pelicans, dolphins--and a whale not mentioned in the text but depicted in the final spread--also share the pages. A seaside bedtime idyll. (Board book. 1-3)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.