cover image All You Need for a Beach

All You Need for a Beach

Alice Schertle. Harcourt Children's Books, $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-15-216755-4

Kids trade their winter coats for swimsuits in All You Need for a Beach by Alice Schertle, illus. by Barbara Lavallee. As in their All You Need for a Snowman, author and artist evoke an experience as an accretion of ""necessary"" details-and children. ""One grain of sand, like the smallest seed, one tiny grain, that's all you need for a beach!"" the text declares. Subsequent admonitions (""Wait!""; ""But"") lead to additional beach necessities such as the sun, toys, snacks, sea birds and, of course, the ocean.