Do you have any friends who know exactly what kind of picture book you’d like to read? I have a friend like that. She is my picture book concierge. This week she brought me This Beach is Loud! by Samantha Cotterill.
Falling in the realm of realistic fiction, this picture book captures the experience of a trip to the beach for a young boy with sensory issues. All the new sounds coupled with the weird texture of the sand overwhelms him. Fortunately, his dad understands and helps the boy soothe himself.
This Beach is Loud! allows readers young and old to glimpse what it is like to hear and feel too much. Also, young readers with sensory issues will be able to recognize and identify with someone who is like themselves. That is a rare experience.
Samantha Cotterill’s block print illustrations are amazing. The text flows over a two-page spread at times, showing visually what the boy is hearing. The experience becomes tangible. When he is having fun, she breaks a single page into a series of smaller, quieter moments, settling things down again.
On the back flap, Samantha Cotterill explains she is on the autism spectrum and she wishes there had been books like this when she was a child. We can only add that we are glad that there finally are.
Age Range: 3 – 7 years
Publisher: Dial Books (June 18, 2019)
ISBN-10: 0525553452
ISBN-13: 978-0525553458
I’m adding this title to a list of children’s books about senses at Science Books for Kids. It seems an appropriate way to introduce the idea that everyone has senses, but not everyone experiences the world in the same way.
