HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE FOREVER SEA

In a sixth book about Henry and his gigantic dog, Dad joins in a happy day playing at the beach. Imaginative touches make Rylant's writing special here: it's Dad who takes along not only six towels and a book on shells but a red rubber lobster, which later tops the castle that he and Henry build, and which Mudge rescues after the tide comes in and knocks clown the castle. There must be dozens of books about a day at the beach; but, between the lines of her apparently unassuming text, Rylant captures the sense of freedom, delight, and wonder (the forever sea) of that experience as few authors have. The spirit of earnest yet lighthearted play is reflected and extended in Stevenson's amiable illustrations.