Vacay All Day
Sandcastle
Written & Illustrated by Einat Tsarfati
Age Level: 3-7 Years
Published May 5, 2020
Turning on my ‘Out of Office.’
When I reflect on what made summers so fun and magical as a child, my imagination is the shining star in all my memories. Every swimming pool became an ocean, every dip in the water transformed me into a mermaid, every romp in the leafy woods morphed into a trek through a lush jungle. Simply told and spectacularly illustrated, Sandcastle perfectly captures the essence of being a child in the summertime and losing yourself in an all-consuming game of make-believe.
“But not just any castle. A real castle, with domes and turrets and a crocodile moat.”
A young girl builds a small, unimpressive, utterly typical sandcastle on the beach. But in her mind’s eye, it is an actual castle (to scale) made of sand with elaborate turrets and ocean views from every room. Kings and queens visit and marvel at the beauty and ingenuity of it all. The illustrations are the best part, matching the grandiosity of the fantasy with their whimsy and high level of detail. In the end, a wave comes in and washes the castle and it’s royal guests away. But it’s not a catastrophe, merely an opportunity for our carefree protagonist to begin again, perhaps with an altogether new creation in mind.
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