Story

I was gifted this book as part of a baby present from a family friend and hadn’t actually read it before – despite that fact it was first published in 1990 and is a well known Australian classic. Now it is one of my go to picture books for bed time readings. It is a beautiful whimsical story that will charm young readers and children.

Everyone has been to a magical beach, somewhere that is special to you. I found this book particularly nostalgic as it reminded me of my own childhood with endless summers spent at the beach. It is a rhyming book with wonderful words that give the reader a sense of melancholy. It is great for medium readers, as well as little ones that will be enthralled by the magical beach. It is also brilliantly imaginative – with every second page being a fabled possibility that will encourage kids own creativity.

It also has some great characters that don’t even need to speak to be memorable. My favourite was watermelon head guy and I found myself looking for him every time I turned the page.

Illustrations and aesthetics

Magic Beach is a medium sized book, with a stunning cover that has lots of lovely sparkly details.

The illustrations are beautiful and memorable. Every page is filled with lots of details of the beach as well as human characters – all of which are a feast for the eye. Even the details in the border on every page will have your little one pointing things out.

Alison Lester’s book is a wonderful read that will capture the imagination of everyone in the family and will appeal to a large audience of any age.

For more information on Alison Lester’s book, you can check out her website here.