Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry
Product Details
Web ID: 16223492A Winning and Unlikely Friendship!
A unique story about an unlikely friendship, where the sea is also a main character. My kids LOVE this book!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Salty and Sweet
A sweet intergenerational friendship book with the sea as one of the characters. Fun word play and happy ending! I totally enjoyed this book!
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Good Reading
Kindness makes everything better. I was pleasantly surprised by how funny this picture book was. It only grew funnier as the conflict between the characters continued. There is something to be said for looking for new ways to understand conflict and assuming the best in every character, including the ocean, when misunderstandings happen. Captain Swashby was a quiet, harmless old man who craved peace and quiet. As much as I enjoyed the reminder to embrace change, I found myself wishing that his new neighbors had respected his privacy and his property. It wasn’t okay for them to use his deck without permission or be so noisy and disruptive on the beach they shared. If the narrator had acknowledged the mistakes Captain Swashby’s new neighbors made after they moved in I would have happily given this a much higher rating. With that being said, I loved the way the main character adjusted to his new neighbors. He showed them a lot of kindness and grace even when they did things that were obviously out of order. They were also given a chance to adjust to Captain Swashby’s deeply introverted personality and find better ways to get to know him. This was a good example of how to find peaceful ways to coexist with other people and look for the good in them. That’s the sort of skill everyone should have no matter how old or young they are! Swashby and the Sea made me smile. originally posted at long and short reviews
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Charming in every sense!
Who could resist this sweetly told story of a grumpy old salt that is charmed by his new neighbor with the help of the meddlesome sea?! The illustrations further enchant this intergenerational tale.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Salty & Sweet Friendship Story
This is a story about the relationship between an old sea captain and the sea. They have a longstanding friendship, and, as the opening lines suggest, the sea has provided Captain Swashby with “exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.” So, when a young girl and her granny move in next door and disrupt Swashby’s serene life, readers will delight in the way the sea “fiddles” with Swashby’s attempts to make them go away. As someone who grew up near the beach, I love the idea of the sea as a character, who fiddles with messages written in the sand. I also love the dreamy, sea-colored images of waves, sandcastles, and sea creatures. And I cannot get enough of the human characters in the book. Captain Swashby is salty! He’s the kind of grump you want to hug, and I love how Juana Martinez-Neal draws his red nose peaking above his wiry beard and his hair which even looks like ocean waves. The little girl is the perfect little someone to turn Swashby’s saltiness into something a little sweeter. She’s playful and oblivious to Swashby’s annoyance, just like a typical child. She and her granny are just adorable! As a picture book “addict” and a huge fan of both Beth Ferry and Juana Martinez-Neal, I can say this book did not disappoint. This book has everything I love: illustrated end papers, dust jacket with a differently-illustrated cover, beach waves, sand, sandcastles, seagulls, sea captains, little girls & grannies, a friendship story with heart, dreamy illustrations, and even ice cream, lobster, and s’mores on the beach. Run, don’t walk to your library or bookstore and grab yourself a copy of this book!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com