Chu's Day at the Beach by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Adam Rex

“When Chu sneezed, big things happened.” Chu is a little panda bear whose sneezes are larger than life, and cause big problems! In Chu’s Day at the Beach, Chu and his parents go to the beach, where everything starts off perfectly. The ice cream seller (an orange octopus with a bowtie and sunglasses) gives Chu an extra scoop of vanilla. But as soon as Chu takes off his sunglasses, his nose tickles, and sneezing is inevitable.  Chu’s sneeze is so big that he parts the sea in two! When a baby whale is separated from its parent on the other side of the sea, the people at the beach try to get Chu to sneeze with feathers and bubbly soda, but nothing works.

“All of the grown-ups were very sad. ‘Chu will not sneeze,’ they said. ‘Now the sea is broken and we cannot fix it.”

Neil Gaiman might be known for his books for older children and adults, but his stories of Chu the little panda who sneezes is absolutely delightful. Adam Rex’s illustrations capture Chu and the characters at the beach in such detail that each time reading uncovers a new character or illustration detail. In bright blues, yellows, and reds, this is the perfect read for the summer, and since it is now available in a board book format, a great handheld size for ages 0 to 3. Will Chu ever put the sea back together? Grab this board book and find out!

"It was a hot day, and Chu and his family went to the beach."

Visual Grammar

Alison Jay has always created a visual story line in her books, and her beachside adventure Out of the Blue follows that established pattern. Her alphabet book (A B C) and counting book (1 2 3) teach youngest children these early concepts, and they also give them a plot line to follow that unfolds entirely through the illustrations. Out of the Blue, with no words, tells a complete story--two children make friends, take shelter from a storm, and rescue a giant octopus. It's liberating for children who are just learning to read because they can make up their own story.

Jay helps youngest children build confidence, as she reinforces all that they know: pages move from left to right, children can point out the heroes in the book who appear repeatedly (the boy and the girl) and they can follow the secondary characters down the beach. They do not need to decode words to "read" the story.

This spring at the Bank Street College of Education, Stephen Savage spoke about “visual grammar” using his book Where’s Walrus? to explain his idea. He spoke of the text and illustrations as “the harmony and melody of the song” and pointed to silent movies as “the original wordless books.” He explained the four components he believes are essential to books without words:

1)  The close-up
2)  Color/contrast
3)  Design/branding
4)  Pattern/repetition

You can see these elements most clearly in Where's Walrus?, but they also come into play in Alison Jay's work.

Children take in everything around them. They are sponges, absorbing how the world works long before they have words to explain what they're seeing. These elements, of which Savage spoke so eloquently, and which Jay also employs in her books, help children unlock the story within the book and also to use those strategies to make sense of the events in their own experiences.

Water Babies

When summer hits, most of us hit the beach. Boat Works by Tom Slaughter makes an ideal guide to harbor-gazing.

Bold, predominantly primary colors and geometric shapes dominate the pages. Triangles for sails, circles for portholes and life preservers, rectangular docks and cars being ferried offer youngest children plenty to point to and name.

A mystery literally unfolds to the solution. The author-artist reveals one detail at a time as the accordion page extends to complete the giant square image. In this way, he directs our attention to the little things that make each boat unique—the sail on a sailboat, the oars of a rowboat. As children revisit the book, they’ll be able to name the anchor, the rope that ties the tugboat to the ocean liner, and also to understand the tugboat’s job—to pull the larger boats (heartening for any small person who wants to stand up and be counted among the bigger people).

The design of the book makes for an ideal guessing game. Each turn of the page exposes a little more information about the boat in question and also completes a little more of the picture. With repeated readings, children will feel smarter as they guess the right answer sooner. And even if you’re not headed to the beach, Boat Works makes a great pre- or post-bathtime read, to complement your child’s experience sailing his or her own boats through the bubbles in the tub. Here’s to smooth sailing!