Picture Book: The Race to the Beach

Title: A Race to the Beach
Author: Anna Shuttlewood
Publication: 2015

The Race to the Beach is an illustrated children's book about a diverse group of animals racing to the beach. Crocodile encounters a problem and Giraffe saves the day by helping him. Personally, I really enjoyed this book and made me reminisce about my times at the beach this past summer. I think this book would be a really great segue into summer for my children during the last bit of the school year. I could use this as a mentor text to get them thinking creatively about a writing workshop on "summer."

I also think this book would be helpful to get the students familiar with all the different types of animals. The author presents a story that uses a large array of animals, from big to small. This book is not as educational as Turtle Tracks and The Kid from Diamond Street but it is a more fun, pleasurable book for readers. This book lacks the educational component compared to the other books in my first two blogs, however it has a more light-hearted message.

Specifically, Shuttlewood uses certain techniques to help her writing come off more powerful to the reader. She uses alliteration with the "s" sound in her writing, "His scaly legs splashes through the water. His swishy tail moved side to side through the waves" (Shuttlewood). When reading this section out loud, the reader can almost feel the animal moving through the water. The reader also feels as if he or she is going along for a swim with the animals because of the cadence and alliteration in the sentences. The "s" sound here really creates this idea of motion, to add on to the effect of the beach story.

As Tunnell and Jacobs said in their article on "How to Recognize a Well-Written Book," music in language is key. Shuttlewood accomplishes this in her text through alliteration, sentence structure and cadence. As Tunnell writes, "The sounds of words increase the appeal and strength of a story as they blend together, create emphasis, repeat tones, establish patterns, provide a cadence, and add variety" (Tunnell, 23). Shuttlewood accurately creates all of these effects in her book, The Race to the Beach, making it a more enjoyable, fun and swimmingly suitable book for the reader.