Enchanted Beach

In her first picture book, a renowned novelist weaves a gentle environmental message into a lyrical ode to family life at the seaside through the changing seasons.

It’s stormy and the beach is whipped.
Ridged and raked, the dune’s a cliff.
Swept and battered, littered, cluttered.
Calm descends; we’re left with gifts.

Camping on the beach in summer, flying kites in autumn, combing storm-whipped sands in winter, treasure hunts in spring—here is a magnificent tribute to life by the ocean throughout the year. In a joyful story charting a family’s adventures and celebrations—from New Year’s to birthdays—Esther Freud’s poetic text melds with Emma Chinnery’s sprightly, atmospheric illustrations to captivate little ocean lovers and budding conservationists.The text is mostly delivered in rhyming verse, with a singsong cadence that begs to be read aloud. . . . the delightful, loose-lined images, reminiscent of the work of Quentin Blake or Simon James, will invite readers to pore over the pages.
—Kirkus Reviews

Chinnery’s captivating mixed-media illustrations depict the changing seasons and the evolving landscape of the beach. The close-knit family’s resolutions . . . and hopeful wish for the future . . . convey subtle messages of environmental stewardship. A lyrical picture book in tune with nature.
—BooklistEsther Freud trained as an actress before writing her first novel, Hideous Kinky, which was made into a film starring Kate Winslet. After publishing her second novel, Peerless Flats, she was chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. Her other books include The Sea House, Lucky Break, and Mr. Mac and Me, which won the East Anglian Book Award for fiction. She lives in London.

Emma Chinnery is a British children’s author and illustrator. She worked for several years as a graphic artist before her passion for children’s books led her to study children’s book illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. She lives in Suffolk, England.