Open this book and you'll be walking along the ocean shore, looking for all kinds of special things. Some will be small enough to fit in your hand--like shells and sea glass. Others--like the sun and the sky and the waves--will be too big to carry home. But no matter what your journey holds, you'll soon learn that looking for the ocean's treasures can be as important as finding them. Debra Frasier, author-illustrator of the bestselling On the Day You Were Born, invites you along on this beach journey of discovery.
"My mother says you can ask the ocean to bring you something. If you look, she says, you might find it." So begins the child narrator in Debra Frasier's Out of the Ocean, a loving tribute to the sea. For over 35 years, Frasier's family lived just north of Vero Beach, Florida, in a house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. During that time, she combed the shore, took many pictures, and finally wrote this beachy paean. Close-up photographs of sand allow readers to see every raspy grain, and cut-paper collages splash across the sandy, shell-strewn background to form incoming surf or dune plants such as periwinkle and hibiscus. As readers walk along the shore with the author, we find beach glass, flotsam, a little jetsam, pelican feathers, black skate egg pouches, and other shore-side marvels. The little girl asks the ocean to show her treasures like these, but her mother asks for things that are too big to carry home--water, the sun, the moon, the sound of waves. A glossary in the back provides more information on shells, finding messages in bottles, and egg pouches, and plants and trees, in addition to things too big to carry home. If you've ever wanted to introduce the ocean to a child who's never seen it, this book captures the dreamy sights, smells, sounds, and textures. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Beautifully Written:
I read this book for the first time when a toddler that I watch picked it out of her stack of books. I didn't know what to expect, but found that I was captivated from the very first sentence. The words are like poetry. The conversation between mother and daughter about the ocean flows beautifully, and actually caused me choke up a bit. I ran out buy it for MY child's literature collection!
As deep as the ocean itself:
In a time of mushrooming materialism and tearing technomania, this delightful book for all ages pays homage to life's precious treasures that can be so easily taken for granted if we are not careful to notice them. Debra Frasier's enchanting collages combine cutouts, photographs, and words to eloquently remind us of the simple pleasures that are right under our noses if we remain open and take a moment to appreciate them.
A joyous celebration of simple treasures.:
This is a very sweet book for any age, any setting, to read over and over. I'm buying a stack to use as gifts.
Awsome Photos - Great lesson for kids!:
Awsome photos and collage art make this a visually stimulating book for children. The second graders in my class loved it and clearly understood the deeper meaning of appreciating all of the gifts we receive each day - sunrise, air, water, etc.
