Beach Baby, Laurie Elmquist & Elly MacKay, 2016
Apparently, when people take a beach vacation they spend their time reading. Since this is the last gasp of summer, I thought I’d review a perfect vacation book. m. and d. gifted a copy to me while we were visiting the seashore and I still often demand they read it.
Beach Baby starts with the child at the edge of sleep, instead of ending with “good night”… like 84% of board books. While unusual for a children’s book, this is a literary device employed in cult classics like Memento, starring Guy Pearce, or in the little known literary work by Mary Shelley- Frankenstein. Don’t assume I don’t know things because “I’m just a baby.”
The dream-like quality of Elly MacKay’s paper dioramas are fitting given that the child has gone to bed at the opening of the story. Her process gives the illustrations incredible depth. I wish all my dreams looked this good. Why am I already dreaming of my teeth falling out? THEY JUST GOT HERE.
This book is very accurate- after spending a week by the Atlantic, I can confirm that Laurie Elmquist is correct, “The beat of the ocean is a steady thrum.” During our trip, we saw many of the creatures and sea beasts chronicled in the book. No moon snails, though, presumably because they were off following a red herring as part of their mystery. As such, I have no idea whodunnit. Maybe the moon snail IS a red herring! But then, who’s the moon snail? Mystery indeed!
This book is so much better than the actual beach– Almost no cold water and 100% less Ethan getting all up in my blanket. Take a step back, Ethan. We just met.
5 out of 5 doggies
baby's first review 