Enchanted Beach
Esther Freud and Emma Chinnery
Walker Books

A boy shares with readers the joys that each season brings him and his family when they visit the beach, not just in the summer when he relaxes on the sand, shell to his ear listening to the musical sounds, but in the winter, the spring and autumn too. ‘When autumn’s here I fly my kite. / Chase the seagulls. hold on tight. / Typhoons, whirlpools, fog, a gale. / A rainbow when the sun meets hail.’

You can almost feel the chill of the seawater on winter days as they all plunge into the waves with a shriek and then beat a hasty retreat back to the shore.

The sing-song narrative is mostly in rhyming verse and for the most part reads well aloud though I don’t advise sharing it sight unseen as there are a few bumpy bits.

Emma Chinnery’s detailed scenes are a delight and beg to be lingered over; the more you look the more you see. Young children might create their own stories using a picture, be it large or small, as the starting point: Emma Chinnery’s style reminds this reviewer somewhat of Simon James’ watercolour illustrations.