Tale of Tails: A Beach Tail

We gave A Beach Tail the roughest test of any of our Cybil's nominees. I read it, the boys read it, and then X took it along to read to first graders for his middle school field trip. Karen Lynn Williams wrote this delicate book about a boy and his stick on the beach, and Floyd Cooper provided the gentle, expressive illustrations. We all liked it, but no one really loved it.

I think my family all leans towards bolder, more exciting pictures, so we are a hard audience. My favorite page was the turn-around, when Gregory realizes how far he's gone and his face shifts from interested and slightly sneaking adventuring to worry. The fourth grader's favorite was when Gregory retraces his steps past the nickname he drew in the sand -- G E R G. X liked the dad on the beach, and he liked my theory that the dad was secretly shadowing the little boy. The first graders seemed to like it, but didn't linger.

So, a cute book, but one I doubt we would return to often, even if the boys were in the right age group.  B-