ALA Booklist (Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 1994)

Every year Gerald and Jamin enjoy their fierce competition to be the first to spot the ocean. But when a heavy mist envelops the Black Mountains, it is their blind sister, Nellie, who senses the ocean first. Condra's warm family vignette is more a paean to nature and Nellie's imaginative vision than a fully formed story. The rich colors of the oil paintings that accompany the text also often blend into one another, giving an unfocused, misty quality to the double-page spreads. Although some readers may find Nellie's description of the ocean florid (The ocean is an old, old man . . . he laughs and gurgles and prattles in the rock pools.), Condra has created a thoughtful, sometimes feisty heroine whose inner vision is more acute than other people's powers of observation. (Reviewed October 15, 1994)

Horn Book (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Ever since Nellie was an infant, her family has vacationed by the ocean. On the way there, her brothers, Gerald and Jamin, always spot the sea first; however, one year a dense fog obscures their view, and Nellie, who is blind, wins the game. The placement of the text in semitransparent panels on the double-page illustrations emphasizes the inseparability of words and pictures in the sentimental story.

School Library Journal (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

K-Gr 3-A gentle story about a little girl and her family and their annual visits to the beach. It is there where Nellie plays in the water, learns to walk, and is told stories about the sea. Her brothers always have a contest to see who can see the water first, but not Nellie. Why? Readers discover the reason when one year it is very foggy and the boys cannot see the ocean, but Nellie announces that she can see it and describes it as a man with a white beard and feet made of shells. Their mother tells the boys that their blind sister can see with her mind. The story is beautifully done as well as nicely illustrated with oil paintings of the seaside and the family, always hiding Nellie's eyes with a hat. The little girl may seem overly romanticized, but her activities at the beach and her lovely description make up for it.-Margaret C. Howell, West Springfield Elementary School, VA