posted on 14 Sep 2025

Enchanted Beach by Esther Freud, illustrated by Emma Chinnery

As we approach the end of an uncharacteristically sunny British summer, there will be plenty of people – young and old – reflecting on their own experience of an enchanted beach. But it’s easy to be enchanted when the sun shines but how often do we think about the beauty and enchantment offered by the beach in less clement weather? 

That’s what makes Emma Freud’s paean of praise to the beach that little bit different – it’s encouraging us to think about just how exciting the beach can be all year round. Her simple but engaging verses start us off in summer and takes us through into the next season:

“When autumn’s here I fly my kite,

Chase the seagulls, hold on tight.

Typhoons, whirlpools, fog and gale.

A rainbow when the sun meets hail.”

In winter there’s a new kind of beauty to witness – deserted beaches and maybe a dusting of snow over the icy puddles.

Then welcome in the New Year by making promises -or wishes – and casting pebbles int the sea (making sure, of course, that you’re wrapped up well against the cold). There are always those hardy souls who are brave enough to go splashing in the sea!

The winds and storms of winter brings onto the beach all sorts of things lost to the sea in earlier times:

“Calm descends; we’re left with gifts.

A boot.

A trunk.

A seal to meet.

A rusty jewel-encrusted seat.”

In spring ‘there’s a hunt. Sweets are buried where they’re sunk.’ Until summer comes around again and we can experience the beauty of the beach – even at night.

As the child grows the beach may seem smaller than he remembers but the feeling of enchantment is never lost.

Emma Chinnery is a seasoned graphic artist but is relatively new to the world of children’s book illustration. On the strength of this, she has a fine career ahead of her. The drawings – beautifully realised and colour-saturated – often fill a double-page spread with the verses interspersed around her work and this creates a symbiosis between the two. Is this a picture book with verses or a poem that’s been lavishly illustrated? Take you pick. It can, of course, be both….

Available now from Walker Books, you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop – who will, of course, be happy to order it for you if they don’t have it on their shelves.

 

Terry Potter

September 2025