The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow

In Charlotte's The Seashore Book, a little boy asks his mother "What is the seashore like?" Her sensuous, detail, child's-eye description brings a day at the seaside so alive to him (for "he lived in the mountains and had never seen the sea.") that by the end of her recounting --- with his eager questions --- he can say, "I like the seashore a lot, and now I can always close my eyes and be there the way I was just now with you." (Cover, by Wendell Minor, shown left.)

Published in 1992 by HarperCollins and edited by Robert Warren, the large book is extraordinarily illustrated with paintings by artist Wendell Minor. A Reading Rainbow selection, The Seashore Book has been called " A graceful, handsomely produced tribute to a favorite childhood experience, " by Kirkus Reviews, and "Poetically descriptive," by the Horn Book. "Minor's lovely paintings heighten the serene nature of the book, " continues Horn Book, " which reads almost like a guided meditation. A useful and relaxing story for bedtime or any time."