When are we going to get another wonderful novel for older children from Alison Lester! I read this book with my eight year old and we both found it gripping. We were sad when we had finished the book. This is a great example of the wonderful childrens literature that comes out of Australia. Please, Please, Amazon.com, get hold of more of this good quality Australian literature for us.

Excelent book. It is perfect for the age group. Perfect for a good night story. It gave a wonderfull scense of adventure. The discription was great I felt like i was there. I defanitly recomend this book

This book was really inspiring, it was such an excellent read, I couldn't put it down! The first chapter really gets you into the story, and it was so dramatic that you just had to find out what was going to happen next! The book is divided between the lives of totaly different characters. The first is a nine year old girl named Biddy, who lives on a cattle ranch and has her own pony, Bella. The second is a boy called Joe, who was brought to live in the wild with his young mother, Joycie, when he was just a baby. They both have interesting and mysterious lives which meet when Bella gets stuck in quicksand, and Biddy and her family are forced to leave her. I would definitely recommend this book to all ages, you will really enjoy it!

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A rhyming story line in a child's picture book seldom works well. They often seem so contrived and sometimes downright corny.

Not so in Alison Lester's << Magic Beach >>. This book deserves the status of a classic in contemporary children's literature. In fact, the book is regularly listed in the Best Seller lists in Australia, where the author resides. ...

All children love the freedom and fun of a trip to the beach. Alison transports us to one of the childhood's favourite playground, that place where the land meets the sea. The real joys of beachside fun are joined with pleasurable and harmless seaside fantasies.

On alternate pages, we are taken from beautiful realities to even more captivating fantasies. We go from a scene with a sparkling sea to an exciting world where we can ride waves pretending they are "wild white horses". We go from sandcastle building to a land of fire breathing dragons. We explore rock-pools and their magic world of starfish and crabs, and then go to an evenmore magic Kingdom where we can ride seahorses.

The beach is still magic when it's a cloudy and gray day, our imaginations will help us discovered a treasure chest. We can go boating in the safety of bay, and then let the wind and our fantasies take us to the "edge of the world".

We fish and laze on the jetty, and in our daydreams, we catch a monstrous shark.

It is now evening-time, we are toasting marshmallows around the glowing fire, and in the shadows, there may be smugglers hauling in crate-loads of booty.

It's time for bed, and to the sounds of the ocean, we drift off to sleep on the evening tide.

This is a fabulous book which has universal and popular appeal. Let's see if we can get it back on the publisher's lists in the US. It deserves the widest audience possible.

This book is a favourite of both me and my two year old son. The beautiful, detailed pictures capture the essence of summer and the magic of being a child, when any activity can be transformed by imagination into something more. Many aspects of beach life are shown, from playing in the surf, to wading in rockpools, to a moonlight bonfire. The verse flows well and complements the pictures, although I would agree with the previous reviewer that the illustrations are the highlight. I love all of Alison Lester's books, but I would rate this one as the best.

Not O/P in Australia - available in many book shops.

This is a lovely book. It depicts various activities throughout the day at the beach, from building sand castles falling asleep at night within sound of the ocean.

Each double page describes a time and activity (the verse is a little bit inferior to the pics). The subsequent double page has an imagined fantasy activity.

I give this 5 stars for the illustrations, 4 for the text.

All four of my children have loved this book as much as I have. In charming illustrations, it shows the happy clutter of a home inhabited by children.

My 21 month old son loves this book - he has me read it again and again - then reads it to himself. Little text, rich pictures. The pictures are full of subtle humor that parents can enjoy - for example the baby brother banging the pots and pans - then you notice that he has also placed some of the cookware in the trashbin...Oh so real!

One to pore over - adult and child, or children together. As well as utilising the concept of chilhood imagination, it is one of the well-loved genre of searching for animals.

The linking pieces are beautifully written - poetic. These are followed by double-page spreads of a variety of environments where the reader is invited to search for the creatures. At the end black and white illustrations provide a key to each picture.

Recommended highly.

This book is a must for primary classrooms. Children will pick up this book over and over again. Two children visit several habitats around the world and explore the animals that live there. Example: prehistoric times, ocean, Alaska, jungle, etc. The pictures are realistic, promote verbal interaction, animal identification, and they fill the entire page. The border of the page lists every animal in the picture for readers. In the back you will find a blackline of every page depicting the name of each animal too. This book will be handled over and over again. Buy two!

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Alison Lester's books capture the innocence of childhood. It's not a saccharine world though. We see a spirit of adventure and at times there is mischievous fun to be had.

When two children have names like Wild and Woolly (we suspect brother and sister) we can anticipate something out of the ordinary will happen.

Every child's fantasy is realized when they dig a hole in their sandpit and fall through it to the North Pole. Their dog (who remains nameless) comes along too.

We all know who lives at the North Pole and it just happens to be Christmas. Turkey and Christmas Pudding are on the menu. They enjoy the feast and its time for bed,

The next day they continue their trek. They visit all the famous fairy tale characters and at each of their houses they are welcomed with generous hospitality, and given a magnificent feast.

Each day they arrive at a new place. Their itinerary (and menu) included angel cakes and sugar kisses at the Good Fairy's, royal trifle and rhubarb fool at Prince Charming's, sea-grapes at the Little Mermaid's, salami sausage and pickled cucumbers at the Pirate King's and goulash and dumplings at the Gipsy Queen's.

After all these feasts they eventually find their way home. Before bed, of course it's time for a big mug of hot chocolate.

Ms. Lester tells the charming story of a sister and brother who fall through a hole dug in their sandbox to the North Pole and then travel home. They visit Father Christmas, a mermaid, and a pirate, among others. The text is charming and the pictures are entertaining. It is a delight to report that the sister is as much the actor in the story as her brother--a still all too rare event in children's literature, where boys "do" and girls "watch."

My 2 1/2 year old adores this book (and Lester's other books) She knows all the characters by heart, and identifies with several of them. The illustrations are fun, and the writing style is unique. Hats off to Lester!!!

Alison Lester would be one of the best children's author/illustrators about. All her books are wonderful! I particularly wanted to comment on this one as we used it to wean our 3 year old son off his dummy (pacificer). For in the book 'at 3, Clive gave away his dummy' - we read the book quite a few times (without making an issue of that particular bit), and lo and behold young son decides it's time to give up his dummy! Thanks Alison. Beautiful illustrations, fun text. Kids and adults all love Lester's work.

This is a wonderful book. My 6 year old really enjoys reading it over & over again & we enjoy figuring out what happened to the people over & over again. Great buy - great book!!

This book encourages a young reader or prereader to picture him or herself in various adventures-aboard a ship in a storm, the Wild West, a space adventure and a Transylvanian (just scary enough) night out, among others. The colorful illustrations are crammed with wonderful detail. Buy this book and YOU as well as your child will want to re-read it every night!

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A simple little card book suitable for younger readers.

The charm of this book is in its illustrations. They capture the joys of childhood. Everybody is smiling. It shows children exploring their world.

We have fun in the garden helping Dad. We go walking through the forest up on Mum's shoulders. We ride on ponies and ride down the sidewalk in our soapbox racer.

"Bumping and Bouncing" is a great introduction to Alison Lester's work that reaches it's most sophisticated in titles like "My Farm" and "Imagine".

Clive Eats Alligators will keep kids wanting more. I know the first time I read the book, I couldn't let go of it. It also help children to realize that even if one person does something different than the other (such as eating alligator cereal) it doesn't make them a totally different person. I highly recommend this book.

My 4 kids and I LOVE Alison Lester. This book is really fun and amusing and has a surprising end. Lester uses wonderful language and a little rhyme with each page..."I'm Green and I'm grumpy, I'm huge and I roar. I'm a thudering, rumbling...(turn the page)...DINOSAUR! Lester' illustrations are always very sweet and amusing with lots going on. I would recommend anything written by her.