Swashby and the Sea, written by Beth Ferry, reviewed by Judy Hauser

Summary: A cantankerous sea captain, Swashby, retires in his seaside home and just wants to be left alone. But, alas, a young girl and her granny move in to the house next door and plant beach chairs and umbrellas in the sand. The new neighbors try very hard to befriend the salty Swashby to no avail. He even writes messages in the sand to thwart their friendliness. But his messages are, mysteriously, changed by the sea. His message of "No Trespassing" gets partially washed away and becomes "sing." The young girl obliges to Swashby's dismay. The sea keeps fiddling with his sand messages making them fun and friendly. Finally, the young girl is swept away by the sea and Swashby rescues her and realizes that the sea helped bring them together. This is an excellent book that targets friendship between different generations and nature and the impact it has on our lives. The sea is a main character in the story. The illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal are beautiful and fun. Highly recommended. 

Straight Talk for Librarians: This great book features age and gender differences, personality differences and, specifically, how the two main characters view their surroundings. Nature is also huge in the book because the sea is another character. The ending