Flotsam

A friend had this in her room and I picked it up to look at it. She said it was great, but I had my doubts. I have a hard time loving books for this age group. But I was so impressed with this book. It is one of my favorite all time books I think. The summary will give away the whole book, just so that you are aware.

Summary: A boy is at the beach with this family, collecting things that wash up and examining them under his microscope. He finds normal things like crabs and starfish and shells, but then he finds an underwater camera. Getting the pictures developed he sees the most amazing things from under the ocean. But the last picture is special. It is a picture of a kid holding a picture of a kid holding a picture of a kid... etc. When he uses his telescope he discovers that the pictures go all the way back about fifty or sixty years. Not to break the chain he puts new film in the camera and lobs it out to sea, but not after adding his picture holding the special picture of all the children who have discovered the joys of the ocean.

Other: This is a picture book. There are absolutely no words in it, but it is a better told story than half the books out there for this age group.

Favorite parts:
1. All of the pages that were pictures from under the ocean were amazing.
2. The pages that showed the chain of children who have found the underwater camera were great.