Day at the Beach

<p><b><i>Look Both Ways</i> meets <i>Seedfolks</i> in this masterful novel from two titans of kid lit that follows a diverse cast of young people whose lives intersect in surprising and hilarious ways over the course of a summer day.</b></p><p>Here's what's so cool about the beach. Kids are everywhere! Kids you know kids you want to know. Wandering from one blanket to another from one family to another. Somebody's mom reads a fat summer novel. Somebody's dad snores with an iPad on his chest. Babies cry. Girls laugh. Frisbee players whoop! Kites in the perfect blue sky. </p><p>Some kids bodysurf. Some don't even like the water. They build sand cities for their friends and sand jails for the grown-ups and when the tide comes in everything gets washed away. </p><p>There's the other world where all kids hear is tomorrow next week next year. And then there's the beach where everything is <i>right now</i>! </p><p>Why can't every day be a day at the beach?</p><p>From two-time Newbery honoree Gary D. Schmidt and two-time PEN Award winner Ron Koertge comes a moving and often laugh-out-loud funny middle grade novel about family friendship and belonging told by a group of kids spending a day at the beach. Thoughtful vignettes brilliantly weave together an irresistible tale of tween conflict and connections.</p><p><br></p><p>What happens when more than a dozen different kids share the same stretch of sand for a single summer day?</p><p><br></p><ul><li><b>Unlikely Friendships: </b> From a boy who can't swim to a runaway bride having second thoughts strangers connect in surprising ways between the blankets and the boardwalk.</li><li><b>Humor and Heart: </b> Laugh-out-loud moments--like a lost bathing suit and a secret circus on the sand--mix with heartfelt discoveries about family and what it means to belong.</li><li><b>High-Stakes Searches: </b> One boy frantically hunts for a priceless one-of-a-kind phone while a girl and a stray dog she's befriended search for his missing owner.</li><li><b>Finding Courage: </b> A son helps his sick father feel the ocean one last time while a young immigrant confronts a figure from his family's painful past.</li></ul>