I dig

PreS-Gr 1-Featuring the same two brothers who appeared in Up, this series entry is another part-real/part-fantasy tale for emerging readers. On an ordinary, breezy day at the seashore, a wave deposits a small blue shovel on the sand and it turns out to be just the right size for the younger boy. As he puts the shovel to use, he uncovers a crab, several starfish, and a dog with a Frisbee while tunneling under the surface of the beach. Only 14 words are used to tell the story and several are repeated to reinforce sight-reading and bolster beginning readers' confidence. Digital illustrations bring energy to the story in sketches of the swirling wind, some soaring kites, and sailboats skimming by on the horizon. When the evening stars emerge, the two children leave the beach, the little boy hands the shovel to his brother and the dog, with the Frisbee in his mouth, looks expectantly at readers. VERDICT A whimsical tale that will be welcomed and enjoyed by youngsters with the desire to read.-Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A beach book for new readers. The front-cover art shows a brown-haired boy with peachy skin and dark eyes gazing at readers while holding a shovel. He's up to his armpits in a hole in the sand while a dog and a crab dig in the background. The back cover depicts the same boy in red-and-green swimming trunks looking at the sea beside another, bigger boy who shares his coloring but wears blue trunks. The two seem like brothers, and the older boy smiles encouragingly when the younger one says, "Look" on three successive pages as a shovel is borne into shore on the crest of a big wave. "I dig," says the little boy on the next page, and he tunnels into the sand, finding: seashells (depicted in the art but not named in the appropriately controlled text); "a crab"; and "stars" (starfish in a watery pool that appears in the tunnel); and then "a dog," which he follows "up" again to the beach's sandy surface, where his brother awaits. The tunneling brings a touch of fantasy to the story, and whimsy arrives with the night's sky and more "stars" spied by the boysthis time twinkling above. Both starry moments, as well as the energetic line that characterizes Cepeda's technique in rendering backgrounds and figures alike, lend vitality to this simple story.Kids will dig it. (Early reader. 4-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.