Enchanted Beach by Emma Chinnery, Esther Freud
Published by Candlewick Press on 2025
ISBN: 1536243620
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

For families with a magical place they return to again and again, this book will resonate. Enchanted Beach is a  story of a year in the life of a young family as they gather at the beach and appreciate big and small moments. Told in simple rhyming couplets — sometimes lovely (“Listen to the seabed roar, flutes and bells below the shore”) and occasionally clunky ( “Next year,” Mom says, “when you’re bigger.” “Next year,” Dad says, “in the summer.”) as the family celebrates and enjoys activities at Enchanted Beach through all the seasons.

The mixed media (watercolor, gouache, crayons) line drawings are charming and reflect the action in the text. The multi-generational family with grandparents, mother, father, and older sister, is pale skinned. The narrator is a small boy with light brown hair, wearing a red baseball hat or knit cap, depending on the season.

Not recommended as a story time read-aloud but Maine families will connect with the idea of visiting the shore no matter the weather and will appreciate the family’s seaside activities (crabbing, polar bear plunges, flying kites, etc) depicted in the appealing illustrations.  For story times celebrating a life’s big and small moments, read A Year of Everyday Wonders (2020) by Cheryl Klein.

Recommended for school and public libraries.

Deanna Contrino, SLMS
K-2 Resource Librarian, Scarborough Schools