Alison Lester is one of Australia’s most beloved children’s authors, and with the book now celebrating its 20th anniversary, it’s safe to say that Alison Lester’s ‘Magic Beach‘ is a true Australian classic. It’s definitely a big-time favourite in our home.
It’s not always the case that a children’s book is fun to read aloud, includes pretty illustrations and appeals to the little ones… but this book ticks all those boxes. The poetic, rhyming verse makes it a fun one to read, and the story and illustrations appeal to kids because it captures their imaginative minds and the true magic of time spent at the beach.
What is so clever about this book is that it beautifully introduces different beach scenes and on the first page of each scene, you see the ‘real life’ version, and on the following page you see the imaginary world inside the children’s minds. On one page, the children are jumping in the waves and on the following page, they’re riding wild white horses. Next, the children are building sand castles and towers, and on the following page there’s a king and queen trapped in the tower fighting off a fierce dragon — the imaginary scene at the castle. On one page the children are fishing from the pier, and on the next they’ve caught a giant shark! The pages depicting the children’s imagination are so relatable — you can remember creating the same stories in your head as a child on the beach.
Magic Beach is such a beautiful book — a perfect read for upcoming (Northern Hemisphere) summer beach days! You can purchase the 20th anniversary edition straight from Alison Lester’s site, from all good bookstores, or from Amazon.
Courtney x
p.s. Another favourite beach book and a beach scavenger hunt idea.
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