I DID MOST OF THE WORK for this book on a lake, Lake Michigan. We live in Chicago, and last summer I ran to the water almost every day, to play with my daughters in the sand, to swim, and to sketch the bathers. Chicago has great beaches. I find myself in the water more in Illinois than I did when we lived in California.

Since there are salty aspects to beaches a lake does not have, I flew back to Connecticut to a beach I went to as a child, and spent a day drawing crab legs and seaweed. I also tried to remember the beaches from Cape Hatteras to Fire Island that I have loved. Then I threw these sketches and memories together, to summon up a summer day at the beach, the type of day that holds such an attraction for many of us, I think.

I look at this book as a Chicago book (the lighthouse is a lighthouse at the head of the Chicago River), which makes odd sense to me. Because even a city beach on a lake has the essential things that make a beach a beach: a place to lie on ones back and look at the clouds, to listen to seagulls, to watch people walk past in ridiculous swimsuits. A place where sand and water meet.

REVIEWS

 GOLD MEDAL. SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS. 2006

Kirkus 5.1.06
"Another charmer from Cooper, who, with his signature impressionistic, diminutive figures and scenes, delivers a perfect day at the beach, observing people, paraphernalia and nature. As soothing and satisfying as the spray from dancing waves, sand between your toes and sun-warmed, waist-high water, this is as close as you can get to the beach without getting wet."

New York Times 8.13.06
"It’s hard to imagine a book more evocative of summer than this one. Cooper’s watercolor and pencil illustrations beautifully contain in a few strokes the essence of sky, deep-blue sea and sand, while other pages are dotted with life studies: bathers, kite-fliers, people doing nothing much at all."

USA Today 7.19.06
"Elisha Cooper's lovely, sophisticated watercolors create a day at the beach, dawn to dusk… Beach is a visual lesson in the powers of observation. It's as good as a day at the beach – without the messy sand."

Published by:
Orchard Books (Scholastic Inc.) 2006
ISBN 0-439-68785-3 $16.99