A Day for Sandcastles

by Jonarno Lawson, Qin Leng (Illustrator)

Overview

A dazzling wordless picture book celebrates creative problem-solving, teamwork, and the sun-splashed wonder of a day at the beach.

The creators of the acclaimed Over the Shop evoke a perfect summer beach day—and themes of creativity, cooperation, flexibility, and persistence—all without a word in this sun-warmed, salt-stained delight of a story. A busload of beachgoers spills out onto the sand for a day of fun and frolic. Three siblings begin work on a castle, patting and shaping the sand as the sun arcs over the sky. Time and again, their progress is halted: a windswept hat topples their creation; a toddler ambles through it; the tide creeps close, and then too close. Meeting each demolition with fresh determination, the builders outdo themselves time and again, until the moment arrives to pile back into the bus for home. An authentic portrait of sibling cooperation—and glorious inspiration for creative people of all ages—A Day for Sandcastles channels the thrill of surrendering expectations on the path to infinite possibility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536208429
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/10/2022
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	663,461
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

JonArno Lawson is an award-winning poet and writer who is the author of many books for children and adults, including Over the Shop, illustrated by Qin Leng. He lives in Toronto with his family.

Qin Leng is a designer and illustrator of books for young people, including Over the Shop by JonArno Lawson. She has received numerous awards for her animated short films and artwork. Qin Leng lives in Toronto with her family.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/21/2022

The team behind Over the Shop offers a wordless story about a long, wonderful day at the seashore. The pink-skinned family of five, first seen aboard a sleek bus, tumble off at a beach stop and hurry toward the water. While the adults pitch an umbrella farther up the beach, the children find some sand mounds near the ocean’s edge and begin building. Ignoring one of the adults’ advice to move back from the waves, Leng shows the three reinforcing their castle with an ocean-side berm. But the tide is inexorable, and after a windblown hat takes out a turret, a big wave flattens the rest. After lunch, the children begin again, more inland, patiently building until a toddling child, then the creeping tide, topple their creation. They’ve got the routine down now, though, and by day’s end, they’ve built one that just might last. Leng’s long views of the beach toggle between the sweep of sea and sky and an ever-changing community of friendly beachgoers (sharp-eyed readers may spot some friends from Over the Shop), while Lawson creates a portrait of the best kind of childhood learning curve—slow, cooperative, independent, and made with little more than sand and water. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Paneled layouts provide ample opportunity for readers to view each step in the siblings' process, and close-ups of their facial expressions (frustration, disappointment, determination) add nuance to the story. . . . Young readers will also appreciate that these parents, while always within eyesight, mostly leave the kids to their own devices, allowing for a most satisfying beach day for everyone.
—Booklist (starred review)

Gorgeous ink and watercolor illustrations give a constant sense of movement to this wordless picture book. . . an immersive read. The sibs’ emotions—frustrated disappointment to hardened determination to elated triumph—are masterfully conveyed in their body language and dynamic poses. . . an obvious choice in anticipation of a beach visit.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

Leng renders the beach in sunny watercolors and delicate, wispy ink lines that capture the movement of dune grass, waves, and sand in the wind. The pacing moves like waves, too, with panoramic double-page spreads alternating with pages of panels that zoom in on the action.
—The Horn Book (starred review)

Lawson and Leng create ample space for the reader to supply the story. . . . A wondrous wordless picture book that will make readers want to grab a sand bucket and head to the beach.

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The team behind Over the Shop offers a wordless story about a long, wonderful day at the seashore. . . Lawson creates a portrait of the best kind of childhood learning curve—slow, cooperative, independent, and made with little more than sand and water.

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

As the author-illustrator duo also did in Over the Shop, JonArno Lawson creates a detailed narrative that Qin Leng’s ink and watercolor artwork brings to life. . . . A Day for Sandcastles is a delightful story about perseverance and the joy of seeing a work in progress to completion. . . . will leave readers longing for a beach trip of their own.
—BookPage

JonArno Lawson and illustrator Qin Leng tell of a glorious outing to the seaside in “A Day for Sandcastles. . . The book’s ink-and-watercolor pictures are full of life and detail. . . There’s a lot of vicarious pleasure to be had in this charming book.
—The Wall Street Journal

This breezy, sun-washed story of a day at the beach has a beautiful, filmlike rhythm to it. With panels to show sequences, interspersed with whole-page spreads, this wordless book demonstrates the story-telling power of illustrations.
—The Virginian Pilot

Perfect summer reading material . . . Leng does a masterful job of creating colourful vignettes that track the kids’ efforts — and the various disasters that befall their sandcastles, including a relentlessly advancing tide. With charm and humour, Lawson and Leng give us a taste of summer at its best.
—The Calgary Herald

A great way for children to create, imagine, and tell their own story versions.
—The Calgary Herald

From the Publisher

★ 2022-03-02
An idyllic day at the beach silently unfolds.

As they did in Over the Shop (2021), Lawson and Leng create ample space for the reader to supply the story. The artwork begins and ends with lovely vistas of sea gulls on a deserted beach and a White family—a mother, father, and three kids—arriving and departing by bus. An image of the older boy running through dunes and beach grass, waving his shirt like a flag, sets the tone of exuberant joy. Everyone on this beach is cheerful and relaxed. Readers see beachgoers of various ages, skin tones, and body types engaged in sundry activities, including swimming, wading, taking photos, and playing catch with a beach ball. The siblings build and rebuild a sand castle, molding, shaping, and decorating it with found treasures only to have it repeatedly destroyed by the tide or sunbathers. The parents don’t try to solve this problem, instead allowing the children to persist and decide whether and where to rebuild. The family has a picnic lunch and there is an encounter with a particularly assertive sea gull. Subtle changes in the position of the sun and the shrinking beach as the tide moves in signal the passage of time. Single-page and double-page montages consisting of rows of square and rectangular panels are used to compress time, highlight characters’ emotions, and create bridges between scenes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A wondrous wordless picture book that will make readers want to grab a sand bucket and head to the beach. (Picture book. 2-7)

Kirkus Reviews