The cherubic pair of toddlers from Crum and Barton's Mine! (2011) are back in another nearly wordless romp. Down the board path through the dunes they go, outfitted for a shore excursion. As the moms crack open their books under a big umbrella, our plump pals build a sandcastle. "Uh-oh!" the little girl drops her sunglasses. "Uh-oh!" the boy's hat droops over his eyes. The two friends turn mishaps into opportunities and act bravely when confronted by local wildlife, and when they are soaked by a big wave, the moms are there with towels to bundle them up and take them home. Barton's graceful, smudgy pencils express the mild drama of each scene without implying real peril. Her use of digitally applied texture and color in a palette of greeny blues and tans with occasional orange accents is perfect for a quietly adventurous, windblown day at the beach. Like Liz Garton Scanlon's All the World (2009), this is marvelous for practicing inference and prediction with prereaders.

The toddlers from Mine!, Crum and Barton's previous collaboration, spend a day at the beach. They use their extremely limited vocabularies--or sometimes just facial expressions and body language--to respond to the unpredictable nature of seagulls, water, and...each other. The collaborators must have a direct line to preschoolers' sensibilities. Barton is especially good at depicting summer breezes.

PreS Two toddlers play at the beach while their mothers lounge nearby reading. After unloading the car and setting up their chairs and umbrella, the moms allow the sun suit-clad girl and boy to take their pail and shovels to the shore. The first "Uh-oh!" happens when the girl's oversized spectacles slip off her face and into a puddle. The boy pushes his tippy cup into a mound of sand, and the children add the glasses and other embellishments to make a sand castle face. Small adventures involving a seagull, collecting shells, the wind blowing off the boy's hat, a wayward crab, a slide, and finally a big wave that splashes over the friends elicit more "Uh-ohs." This essentially wordless story is illustrated with smudgy looking pencil sketches colored digitally in soft pastel shades. Lots of white space surrounds the episodic drawings. Although nothing dramatic happens, this easy-to-follow story offers a pleasant recollection of a simple day at the beach. Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT