Waiting for high tide - Nikki McClure

For one young boy, it's a perfect summer day to spend at the beach with his family. He scours the high tide line for treasures, listens to the swizzling sound of barnacles, and practices walking the plank. But mostly he waits for high tide. Then he'll be able to swim and dive off the log raft his family is building. While he waits, sea birds and other creatures mirror the family's behaviours: building and hunting, wading and eating. At long last the tide arrives, and human and animal alike savour the water. Another beautiful ode to life lived in harmony with nature, and by the labour of one's own hands, from an artist of great warmth and clarity.

Nikki McClure is the author and illustrator of Collect Raindrops; In; Mama, Is It Summer Yet?; To Market, To Market; Apple; and How to Be a Cat. She is also the illustrator of All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant and May the Stars Drip Down by Jeremy Chatelain. McClure lives in Olympia, Washington. www.nikkimcclure.com.