An Island Scrapbook: Dawn to Dusk on a Barrier Island

Wright-Frierson's (A Desert Scrapbook) love of nature and talent as a watercolorist shine forth in this peaceful portrait of life on a barrier island off the coast of southern North Carolina. During their last week of vacation on the island, the artist narrator and her daughter rise at dawn to paint the sunrise over the salt marsh. They then walk past mudflats, through a lush maritime forest to a rainwater pond and over grass-covered sand dunes to the ocean beach. Along the way, the pair spies fiddler crabs, a heron, pelicans, egrets and bottlenose dolphins. With an assemblage of pencil sketches, spot drawings, simulated photos and hand-written notes, the double-page spreads indeed have the look of a scrapbook. Flashbacks (to a summer hurricane, to an unexpected visit by an alligator) add a dash of action to the sleepy text, which occasionally meanders (as when the narrator recalls discovering false teeth on the sand and comments, ""I have heard of people losing them overboard when they get seasick""). The author issues some environmental warnings (e.g., Amy makes a list of ""things that wreck the beach""), and the book offers inviting ideas about creating art and crafts from found beach objects. But the graceful graphics are the real standout and are what readers will remember most about their island tour. Ages 6-up. (Aug.)