A patterned picture book about a family outing to the beach. The children are delighted when they spot seagulls, an ice-cream van, sand and even what they believe to be the sea, but are they at the beach yet? Lisa Smith's illustrations capture the children's excitement as they wait impatiently for their journey to end.

• Red A/Band 2A books offer predictable text with familiar objects and actions, combined with simple story development.
• Text type - A story with predictable structure and patterned language.
• Pages 14 and 15 show a labelled beach scene, incorporating the key words from the text, and providing an opportunity to recount the text.
• This story is paired with a non-fiction book on the same theme: Shapes on the Seashore by Frances Ridley.
• This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery