Sunny Boy at the Seashore

Summer arrives like a promise in this delightful 1920 children's story, and no one understands that promise better than Sunny Boy. When he bursts through the door with news of the family's upcoming trip to Nestle Cove, his whole world narrows to one brilliant point of light: the ocean, the sand, and the water that will finally teach him to swim. White captures something achingly true about childhood anticipation, that electric awareness that something wonderful is coming, and the way the days leading up to it seem to glow with possibility. Through Sunny Boy's interactions with his warm, bustling family (loving parents, indulgent Aunt Bessie) and his friends Ruth and Nelson, we see a world where a trip to the beach is the grandest adventure imaginable. The book whispers quietly of grandfather's farm and past adventures, but here at the shore, everything is new. This is the kind of gentle, joyful book that lets children see themselves reflected in pure, uncomplicated happiness, and reminds adults that once, a trip to the ocean was the most exciting thing in the world.