In the middle of a Canadian winter, it’s quite a pleasure to look at a picture book about a sunny summer day on the beach. Jane Barclay tells her story in the voice of a little boy travelling with his sister to spend a day at the seaside. In neatly rhyming lines, he tells first of the journey – evidently a lengthy one, by train, bus, bicycle, and on foot – then of the delights of wading, lying in the shallows and pretending to be jellyfish, digging tunnels in the sand, and making seaweed pies. Always in the present tense, the verses convey the sense of discovery that comes with a child’s first visit to the ocean.

Barclay’s text, so intensely aware of sense impressions, is well matched with Doris Barrette’s cheerful, lively pictures, which are likewise focused on the child’s sensations in the present moment. With a palette of soft aqua and sand colours, enlivened by vivid reds and blues, the pictures evoke the mood of a summer day. Figures and facial expressions are more comic than poetic, but both illustrations and text have an immediate, child-like appeal. The feel of hot sand underfoot, the sticky sweetness of sugar cones – these details make the day at the seaside vivid for any reader. Whether it evokes memories or just anticipation, Going on a Journey to the Sea is a welcome trip.