August 29, 2025 By Maria
I can’t get through the summer without completing at least one beach themed blog post. We only managed to fit a couple of beach days in this year, but they were all delightful. One was a bit chilly, but the kids still had a blast and enjoyed the water while I shivered, wrapped in a towel on the sand. In spite of the chilliness, I still enjoyed my trip to the beach.
A trip to the beach can be a simple solution to a hot day or it can be a complicated solution, depending on how many sand toys you need to pack and how many bodies you need to sunscreen. If you love spontaneous beach days, this 2023 Caldecott Medal winner, Hot Dog by Doug Salati is just the book for you. Last summer, I took my kids on quite a few spontaneous beach days. We even went more than once a week. After doing that a couple times, they said, “No more beach days this week, Mommy. We’re too tired.” Hot Dog is told with very few words. Most of the story is expressed through the illustrations and the interactions of the dog and his owner. It’s interesting how different visual devices and color palates are used to show the mood and even temperature of the environment. I actually passed over this book the first time I saw it on the library shelf. It wasn’t until I listened to a Read Aloud Revival podcast and heard Sarah Mackenzie talking about this book and the things to look for in the illustrations that I went back and borrowed it. When I finally read it, the kids and I were completely delighted with what we found.
I love how simple things delight us all at the beach. It can be the breeze, the sound of the waves or the sensation of sand between our toes. I love how hard my kids play at the beach. It’s great to watch them bravely face the waves or make designs in the sand. They get so sandy! I usually remove at least half a cup of sand from my younger son’s swim trunks before throwing them into the washing machine. One time we were at the beach with my aunt and uncle when my son asked if he could please bring some sand home. My uncle glanced at my son, rolling in the sand, and said, “I think you already are.” The kids’ sand caked arms and legs always make me think of A.A. Milne’s poem, Sand-Between-the-Toes. (A.A. Milne is the author of the Winnie the Pooh books). Besides literally burying themselves in the sand, my kids usually always build a sandcastle or some other sand creation.
My kids can easily relate to the children working on their sandcastle in Jonarno Lawson’s wordless book, A Day for Sandcastles. The story is about siblings building a castle over and over again at the beach. Different things happen that destroy their castle. The tide comes up and a toddler wanders through, yet they keep going and keep trying to create the very best sandcastle. I love their enthusiasm for sandcastle building. I love seeing the kids being creative and the illustrations by Qin Leng are beautiful and fun. It’s an enjoyable book to read and it’s easy for kids to associate with the characters and their struggles and the beauty of a day at the beach
A little girl spends a lovely day at the beach collecting shells while visiting her grandparents’ seaside house in Little Houses by Kevin Henkes. My kids and I always come back from the beach with at least a couple of neat shells or rocks. When at the beach, my younger two kids often drop tiny treasures in my hands while they play, and I do my own shell searching as well. On our last trip, my younger son even found a tiny piece of coral. I am always filled with wonder at these tiny and surprising treasures we can find out in nature. While looking for shells and thinking about their beauty and uniqueness, the girl in this book muses about the world and nature. She calls the empty shells she collects little houses. It’s a simple story with a lovely message about wonder and the beauty of nature. This book is illustrated by Laura Dronzek, Kevin Henkes’ wife. They also made another lovely summer book called Summer Song. Summer Song is one of a four-part series of seasonal books they wrote together.
As we sing the end of summer song with school supply lists piling up, cooler weather coming in, and fall decor filling all the stores I am grateful for our beach days this summer. I enjoyed the slowing of time I experienced watching my kids play while feeling sand between my toes. Did you visit the beach this summer?
More Bookshelves Please 