The Sandcastle That Lola Built

This celebration of kid-driven collaboration from Maynor (the Ella and Penguin books) and Berube (My Little Half-Moon) starts with an uh-oh moment: while retrieving his Frisbee, a boy accidentally tramples on Lola's sand castle. But instead of crying or accusing, Lola enlists: "You can use this bucket to fix it," she says. "What should we add next?" Encounters with other kids begin in a similarly unpromising manner but also result in more helpers, and Maynor gives each one a fun moniker: along with Frisbee Dude, there's Little Guy, a preschooler who uses his toy bulldozer to help build a moat, and Minnesota Girl, who adds shells from the collection she had planned to take back to the Midwest. The classic cumulative structure--a spin on "The House That Jack Built"--becomes a refrain after each new contributor joins ("These are the shells/ That lead to the moat/ That surrounds the wall/ That protects the castle"), and the collage and mixed-media illustrations make the shoreline landscape and the chill vibe of a beach vacation feel very close at hand. In an age of adult-organized play, this book offers a fun but pointed reminder that children are more than capable of organizing themselves. Ages 4-7. (May)

PreS-Gr 2--While building a sandcastle at the beach, Lola enlists the help of several children playing nearby. Cumulative text describing "the tall, tall, tower of the sandcastle that Lola built," as well as the sea glass on top to signal mermaids, is interrupted when a foot belonging to "dude with a Frisbee" accidentally kicks it. Instead of becoming angry, Lola enlists his help, and he builds a wall. "This is the wall that protects the castle...that Lola and Frisbee Dude built," continues the text, until a toddler with a bulldozer arrives. Lola redirects "Little Guy's" digging to constructing a surrounding moat. Finally, Minnesota Girl adds a seashell path and the masterpiece is complete--when..."CRASH!" a huge wave destroys it. Lola is desolate until her new friends convince her to join them in making a new one. The cartoon illustrations are done in mixed media and collage. The cumulative text continually expands to include each one's contribution to the project. Little Guy's vocabulary appropriately consists of single words. Most scenes are spreads, and some include images of mermaids in clouds and sea. Lola's grief at the castle's destruction before the mermaids even move in is echoed in a scene of the child wrapped in blue hunched over atop blue-hued sand with mermaids floating away in the blue sky. VERDICT The delightful text, coupled with nondogmatic examples of intent cooperation, make this a wonderful choice for group sharing and a great vehicle for launching the beach season.--Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA