Looking Closely along the Shore

by Frank Serafini

Look closely. Look very closely. Is it ? a string of beads? Stars in the sky? Give up? Just turn the page and, lo and behold, it's an ochre sea star! See what looks like a bird's beak revealed as a gooseneck barnacle, blades of grass as a blue mussel, and many more surprises when you look closely along the shore. The Looking Closely series takes children on a journey of discovery through four environments -- the forest, the shore, the desert and the garden. Frank Serafini's camera lens enlarges each world through the magic of close-up photography. Young eyes will rediscover our planet as a place of beauty, mystery and delight. Readers are first challenged to guess the identity of each close-up photograph. The next page reveals the entire photograph of the plant, animal or natural object accompanied by a simple but detailed description of the habitat. By inspiring children to ask questions and use their imaginations, these books help build problem-solving skills. They also encourage curiosity about environments that, examined this closely, are full of unexpected wonders.

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Science

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

Dr. Frank Serafini is an author, illustrator, photographer, educator, musician, and a Professor of Literacy Education and Children’s Literature at Arizona State University.
Frank has published seven books with Heinemann, including: The Reading Workshop, Reading Aloud and Beyond, Lessons in Comprehension, and Around the Reading Workshop in 180 Days and Classroom Reading Assessments which will be available in 2010. In addition, Frank has published Reading the Visual (2014) and Beyond the Visual (2022) with Teachers College Press.
In 2008, Frank began writing and illustrating a series of non-fiction picturebooks focusing on nature with Kids Can Press. The Looking Closely series contains books about the desert, garden, pond, rainforest, shore and forest. In 2009, Looking Closely Along the Shore won an International Reading Association’s Teachers’ Choice Award, and Honorable Mention from the Society of School Librarians International.
A true “Renaissance Man,” Frank loves to travel, sing, play guitar, cook, draw, read, visit art galleries, and watch movies. His workshops are packed with important information and practical ideas, all delivered with a great sense of humor.

Reviews

[Cristal Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

In looking closely along the shore, the book talks about things people can come across when they are on the shore, it makes you predict by asking what we see and it gives us a hint by providing a zoomed in picture of what it is, then on the next page it tells us. It includes a sand dollar, a gooseneck barnacle, a lined shore crab, an ochre sea star, a coconut palm tree, a blue mussel, a queen conch shell, a sea anemone and a coastal rock. The book gives a brief description of what these cool things are, along with a great photograph on the page. My impression of the book, is I really enjoyed reading it, it kept me wondering what the next cool image was going to be, it really informed on things I would never think of being on the shore. The images on the book were awesome, because they covered a whole page and more, and gave us up close shots with very good resolution. The style in this book I would say is descriptive because it give us facts and it describes the things very well for example the coconut palm tree in the book it describes and states facts by saying “Palm trees grow in warm or tropical places. They hang over the beach and sway in the ocean breeze” and “Coconut palm trees have the biggest leaves of any plant in the world” and when it describes the sand dollar “When alive, sand dollars are covered with tiny hairs” This is why it is descriptive style because it is informing the reader. The tone of this book I would say is curious and informative, curious because it says “Look very closely, what do you see? A flower? A Fossil? What could it be?” It makes you think about what the close up image could be, makes it curious and makes us the reader predict. Informative because it states facts about the images. In the gooseneck barnacle the book says “Gooseneck barnacles keep their shells closed unless they are eating” This is how the tone of the book is informative in a descriptive way.
Some visual elements I saw in the book was the font of some of the words where it says “Look very closely” these words are extra big, bold and black. I believe the author did this to get us wondering and into the book, and to make the book fun by curving some of the words. I also noticed the images that are zoomed in where we guess what it is. It is all in black and a circle of the zoomed in image in the center, I believe he used the color black so we can focus and think about the zoomed image that has colors. The images also bleed through the entire page, which makes the images bigger it gives us a better detailed image like if we are there in the shore. Also in the last pages a big photograph spreads though the entire two pages of the shore, which I believe it looks awesome because that can be where he took the photos, giving us thoughts to go there and look for those things he mentioned on the book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank Serafini creates a portal to the shore through his visually stunning photographs, inviting children (and adults) to explore every detail within them. The book introduces a habitat and then offers cropped images of a photograph containing something native to this area, such as a sand dollar at the shore. The cropped image is accompanied with questions and suggestions on what the item may be and then it is followed by the full picture and a description that gives readers facts about that animal or plant. The photographs make the book, as Frank Serafini traveled all around the world to find the perfect subjects for his habitats. The passion and care he took to take these photos translates beautifully into great nonfiction pieces of literature.
The most obvious literary element used is setting. The title states it quite clearly as the shore, but keeps it vague enough to include any shore in any part of the world. The pictures bring those words to life. It brings the readers to the shore and makes them feel as they are wading in the tide pools created during low tide, discovering the sea stars and shore crabs. The way Frank chose to present his non-fiction works speaks to his style choices, as he used the photography medium to display the many things found at the shore, such as the Gooseneck Barnacle. The photographs themselves visually catch the reader’s eyes with the natural patterns and colors found at the shore.
Serafini uses landscape photography to reveal the shore to his readers. The first page containing the cropped image contains a black page with the circle and inside the circle is the peek at what the reader can find at the shore. The border is big enough to show a good-sized portion of the image without overtly giving away the surprise. The second line of the text on every page is curved, and every time the page asks you to look closely, the word closely is curved as if inviting you in. The stunning visuals presented in the books are timeless representations of these great places ever child should have the opportunity to explore.

[Honesty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking closely is a nonfiction picturebook that encourages children to get out of the house and adventure new places and essentially to "look closer". I really loved it, it has very beautiful images that really inspire adventure. The question and answer style of looking closely was perfect for this nonfiction book. I think this because it causes the reader suspense some of the time, and at other times it seems to be easier to predict. Looking closely along the shore is a very beautifully illustrated book, it contains very wonderful pictures that support the book. The pages that ask are a round frame surrounded by black. I think this would be used to insinuate the use of a microscope. the reveal pages are bleeds, the picture bleeds off the page.

[Remi Thorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking Closely Along the Shore was written by Frank Serafini, he writes many books very similar but with different ecosystems. All of these books are informational books, which bring information about the world to kids and even adults. In this book the focus is the ocean, and what’s around and in it; this text includes information ranging from the common sand dollar to giant green sea anemones to costal rock. Serafini keeps these interesting by having a page with a close-up photograph of what is going to be described and given facts about. On this page is includes questions making a reader make guesses as to what the upcoming image will be such as “a marble? A planet? What could it be?” in this image the questions were about coastal rock. After a reader guesses about the picture the following page is a photograph of that is being described, and a few interesting facts about the object(s) in the photograph. I think that this is a good book for young readers because it makes the students think and question the photograph before they are introduced to the full photograph and some facts. The tone of this book is very instructional, giving information without much “fluff” but yet is still an interesting read. To help keep the readers intrigued the author captures you right off the bat with the end pages, the end pages here were photographs of waves which gets you to realize that the ocean is a large component of this book, and who doesn’t love the ocean, this draws the reader in so easily by interest. The author also uses the pages to his advantage, from showing a page with a tiny up-close picture that makes you wonder by following it with nearly a two-page full bleed page of the previous image but all blown up, which really helps bring you into the setting of the ocean and its surroundings. Overall I think that Serafini did a good job at capturing information and excitement into this text, and I enjoyed reading it.

[Huawei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summarize: When you are looking closely, then what do you see? A fish scales? Sea snakes? The answer is in the back page, and it is a Lined Shore Crab! This book is about ocean. The author used the close- up photograph to let kids conjecture what it is.
Impression: I like this book because it is very interesting for me. When I look the first page I need to conjecture what it is. I only can see a part of the thing, and I need to observe the details to help me think about what it is. When I have my answer, I can turn the page to check my answer. Also, the back page has the information to help kids to learn and understand what it is. I believe this is a good information book for kids because kids read it, then they will want to know what the answer is, so they will keep read. The information is easy to understand because it does not have any specialized vocabulary.
Tone: I think the tones is funny. When I read this book, I feel I am studying in a kindergarten. The teacher give some clues to me, and I need to use these clues to think about what the answer is. It is like a game. Look very closely. What do you see? The writer is asking to reader, so they have a “communication”.
Style: I think this book’s style is summary because it summarizes the information to describe some things such as the Lined Shore Crab. A shore crab has two claws… Kids can read the information and look the picture to learn what Lined Shore Crab is.
Frames: The author uses circle frame to show a part of whole picture because the author does not want readers get all details at one time. The author wants readers use some details to conjecture what it is. A part of information can make this book to be interesting. Readers will think about what the whole picture should be.
Endpapers: This book’s endpaper is about sand beach, so the mean is all the things that this book has showed before can be found in sand beach or ocean.
1 characteristic of the genre: I think the characteristic of the genre is expository because this is a Children science book. It has a lot of information to describe what it (The thing on the photo) is. The photo is a Lined Shore Crab, and the information in the text is A shore crab has two claws…

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Use for American Girl Program - Kailey Hopkins

[Feras Nasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

The takeaway of this book is its multiple useful facts about what we can find in our seas and on shores. This book contains basic and exciting information about Lined Shore Crabs and Ochre Sea Stars, among other. Furthermore, this book engages its reader to predict what will come on the next page by asking what the animal or plant on the next page might be. This is conducted by displaying a small part of the concerned animal or plant before the complete picture and the accompanied explanation are given on the following page.

I can use this book with my students to focus on predicting in order to accomplish a better understanding of a book and/or story. For instance, we predict as we read based on connections that we make in our texts to better understand what we are reading.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was read at story time because of the water theme of the summer reading program this summer. I missed a lot of it because I was busy with Natalie, but what I did see looked pretty cool. It focuses on a closeup of something from the ocean, then pulls back. Great book for teaching about the shore or about perspective.

[Maggi Rohde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting kids to look, to really observe without judgment, is huge. This series helps by taking away the context. There's a lot of information inside, too, but it never feels overwhelming. These are some beautiful photos. Also a natural model for children's work. A must-have for all K-5 collections.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looking Closely Along The Shore has the potential to be a great non-fiction book for preschoolers. But many of the photographs are poor quality, so when the book presents a selection for the reader to guess, it looks grainy. And I will never understand why somebody would go to the trouble of writing, making, printing a book without checking on things like that.

[Ai-ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture book, Preschool to 3rd Grade. Every other spread gives a peek at the following full-color photo of something found on the beach. Children can play a guessing game or just wait to read the short version, "It's a common Sand Dollar," or the long version-- a paragraph about the Sand Dollar.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had many colorful pictures and easy to read facts about the many things we can see at the beach. This would be a great book to read duirng a science unit about the sea. Students can explore sea shells and sea creatures.

[Zack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good concept and information, but would benefit from sharper photographs.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice lower level nonfiction.

[Marge]

fun book looking for things on the shore -

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be great for a class visit. I am planning on using it for my summer reading promotions.

[Jennifer Nydahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Information
Copyright: 2008

A great information book where the reader has to look at clues to guess what the animal/plant is on the following page.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for talking about patterns, shapes, colors, texture.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduces things found on the seashore and invites young readers to guess the identity of each plant, animal, or object depicted, including gooseneck barnacles, coconut palms, and rocks.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kid is still a bit young for this book, but I rather enjoyed it. Lots of stuff to learn, and it is a nice way to explore the natural world to look at the close up details like this!