We use this book frequently as a mento text and a read aloud in class with small groups. The students appreciate the illustrations greatly in this one!

Grains of Sand is a visually appealing picture book about imagination, family, and vacation. I just love the way these siblings imagine and remember their time at the beach together.

This will easily become one of my favorite picture books of the year. It's the last day of summer and two siblings plant grains of sand and imagine what will grow from them. Beautiful illustrations and great for the imagination. A great book to take to the beach.

Two children imagine what might grow when they plant the grains of sand that have come home from vacation with them in their shoes. What a sweet little book! Grains of Sands perfectly sums up the feeling of melancholy that comes when vacation is over. The illustrations are wonderful and the sparse use of color adds to the atmosphere of the book.

A lovely picture book about summer! The girl and her brother get back home after vacation on the beach and they hold on to the sand in their shoes. While they "plant" the sand, they remember the wonderful adventures they had over the summer. Beautiful illustrations! I could almost feel the breeze by the sea.

Coming home from a vacation is never easy, particularly if you had an amazing time. In “Grains of Sand” a girl and her brother have returned from their visit to the sea. They’re missing the ocean when little girl discovers sand in her sandal and decides to scatter it in the field to see what might grow. Will it be beach umbrellas, pinwheels, or lemons? Perhaps a strong castle wall?

This beautifully illustrated picture book rendered in pen and ink is stunning and bright though it only makes use of shades of gray, white, yellow and splashes of blue. Pair with My Garden by Kevin Henkes for a magical trip into the imagination of a child.

Imagine coming home from a beach vacation as a young child, filled with longing for sun-packed days and endless sandcastles. Away from the water, our wistful protagonists—an adorable brother and sister—are clearly disappointed that the trip has ended and are craving more of their sandy playtime. With minds still reeling with gold and blue beach hues, our little duo decides to plant their leftover sand. Watering these unique sand seeds with their imagination, the children watch and skip along as umbrellas, pinwheels, and ice cream grow. Eventually calm and sated, they head to bed.

Although ideas like waves of laughter painted with ocean surf might be more abstract to younger children, Grains of Sand is a beautifully written and illustrated book that evokes nostalgia in all ages—including myself. The sweet, simple concept of bringing home the beach and overcoming forlornness is perfect for pre-k to second graders. The color-penciled illustrations, using a base of three colors, tightly wraps the picturebook in the serenity of memories meant to console our protagonists and spark new inspiration. I can relate when I come from home the beach. Like these children, I should take my ocean-induced inner peace and despondency and create.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Owlkids Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Grains of Sand will be published on April 15, 2018.

A child's imagination is a beautiful thing! This story captures that imagination and brings it to life. Two young children visit the beach with their family and are sad to return home. They quickly discover that some of the beach has followed them home by way of the sand in their shoes. They decide to plant the sand and see what will grow. Will it be beach umbrellas? A forest of pinwheels? Or perhaps a strong sand castle?
The illustrations in this book are absolutely stunning and complement the story very well. The minimal use of color highlights exactly what the children are imagining and bring more meaning to this wonderful story. This would be a wonderful addition to any child's library, a special book to treasure for sure!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book prior to publication, in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This is a fabulous book with amazing illustrations. The details of toes, sand, etc. are incredible. And the story of imagination, sadness of something ending, and hope for newness is one to cherish.

Illustrated in grays with pops of imaginative yellow, Grains of Sand celebrates the power of imagination. Two little children use their imagination to answer the question: what happens to the sand we bring back from the beach?

Grains of Sand by Sibylle Delacroix is a simply gorgeous book perfect for the littlest of littles and the oldest of vacation lovers.

When two children arrive home after a vacation at the beach they feel “as blue as the sea”. When they realize that they have brought some of the beach home, trapped in their shoes, they decide to plant it and go on an incredible journey through the imagination to figure out what will grow.

This book is a beautiful mediation through the imagination, leading to questioning and discovering and storytelling. What do you think will grow if you plant beach sand? The incredible illustrations in black and white with yellows and blues scattered in evoke all the beach you feelings we experience when we are out on vacation and free from the constraints of the daily routine and the feelings we long for when our vacation comes to an end. It is there where we can find a “field of umbrellas, and a forest of pinwheels”. Sibylle Delacroix uses the most incredibly descriptive language, you don't even need the pictures of the book to see the story unfold. Definitely a book to have on hand upon returning from vacation or perhaps to even bring with you.

Two children return home from a wonderful vacation to the beach. As they mourn the end of the vacation, the little girl finds sand in her sandal. The two children decide to plant the sand and dream what might grow from the sands, and in the process share their favorite parts of their vacation.

This is beautifully illustrated in black and white pencil sketches with highlights of yellow and blue. It makes the beach memories feel dream-like but also cheerful. I love the imagination of the two children - a field of beach umbrellas or lemon ice cream or a sand castle - and the way this lets them process the wonderful time they’ve had. A great read for kids after a vacation that leaves them feeling a little sad to be returning to real life. A good extension activity would be to read this and ask kids what would grow from their “grains of sand,” allowing them to share the favorite parts of their trip they wish they could bring home. (Perhaps do this instead of the “What I Did This Summer” typical return to school assignment, teachers.) Definitely recommending for our elementary library to purchase this title.

Grains of Sand is the story of arriving home after a vacation and wishing the getaway wasn't over. The first page is the family unloading the car:
"Today was the last day of our vacation. When we get home, Ulysses still has water in his eyes. I am as blue as the sea."
After a sister discovers sand in her sandals, left over from her family vacation, she and her young brother, Ulysses, daydream about what would come up if they planted the sand like seeds. Of course, every items refers back to their beloved vacation at the beach. The illustrations are fitting for the story; they are black and white with splashes of a calming blue and yellow. The entire tale alludes to the pleasant blue water and yellow sun and sand. The book is a perfect story for reading after returning from summer break or at bedtime.

I love, love, loved this book! I loved how the pictures were black and white when the family was home from vacation but there were spots of color when they thought about the beach. I loved that the children imagined what would grow if they planted sand.

I really, really enjoyed reading Grains of Sand! I adore the illustrations and the splashes of blue and yellow throughout the pages! This book is sweet all the way around from the adorable sibling love and play to the imaginative aspect of the story! Grains of Sand is such a warm and cozy, make you feel good inside book! Perfect for bedtime! This book shows that the power of a child's imagination is so creative and limitless!

A young girl and her brother come back home after a family vacation; her shoes are filled with sand. What to do with all of it? Should they plant a field of umbrellas to wave at the sun? How about a forest of windmills, or a castle fort? The possibilities are as endless as a child's wish for the summer to stay. As the girl falls asleep in her father's arms, she extracts a promise that they'll return for more sand, next year. This sweet love letter to summer and family uses grainy gray and white artwork, with splashes of yellow and blue, and will enchant young readers and make us adults smile and remember our own summer vacations. You'll feel the sand run through your fingers and smell the ocean as you turn each page. It's the perfect way to greet a summer full of possibilities. Originally published in 2017 in French, this English translation of Grains of Sand has a starred review from Kirkus.

This book has AMAZING ART! Most of the story is told through the art, and it is beautiful to look at. Pencils sketches with just the right pop of blue or yellow to create the magic that the children in the story feel. These grains of sand are magic. They feed the imagination, grow giant umbrellas, or a sea of windmills. A lovely book to be treasured for generations.

Grains of Sand by Sibylle Delacroix is a captivatingly illustrated paean to the imagination of a child (or two in this case), which can be sparked by the smallest of inspirations. Even down to some grains of sand. A young girl and her brother return home from a day at the beach, and when the girl pours out some leftover sand from her shoe, her mind, exhibiting the joyfully plastic nature of a child's thoughts-unbound by the "rules" of reality-decides she and her brother should plant the "seeds" of sand. Then the two of them imagine what sort of crop might spring forth, each possibility a bright splash of yellow on following pages: "a field of beach umbrellas," a "forest of pinwheels," "a crop of ice cream," a sand castle, or a beach of "powdered gold." The last maybe offering up some grains to "fill the sandman's bags" her father suggests, upon seeing her rub her tired eyes. The book ends with a look ahead to next year, another visit to the beach and a new crop to harvest. The language is simple and while I could have done with a bit more poetry to it, its effective here. The real strength, beyond the depiction of the imagination, lies in the softly beautiful artwork. The simple black and white and grey are broken by an eye-catching blue that sometimes is a cap, sometimes shorts, sometimes a wave, and of course by the yellow sand creations. Delaroix makes excellent use of shading and shadow and there is a rich sense of detail and tone throughout. Truly lovely artwork here. Highly recommended.

The feeling of disappointment and let down when you return from a wonderful vacation is exactly where the story starts for these two little friends. And then one finds some grains of sand left behind inside her shoe. What should they do? Plant them of course. And then imagination takes over as to what will grow. These friends are precious and you can feel what they are thinking because we have all been there. This story is relatable and a classic. I love it!

This book takes you straight to the heart of childhood from the perspective of your little one. With simple yet stunning and captivating illustrations that evoke the imagination and the quintessential representation of the child’s mind at play.