I am a huge fan of nearly every Gary D. Schmidt novel I've ever read, but this is a co-authored short story collection. It reminds me of You Are Here or Look Both Ways in that many of the stories are connected, but since there is no central character, there is no character arc or plot development. It's a good collection of stories, but not a must-buy for my middle school classroom library.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think I like the idea of the book better than the execution. It did indeed feel like a fun collection of a bunch of people at the beach and how there can be such a a variety of different families, individuals, and life experiences. But it also just felt like too much at times.

In the first half of the book or so, it was easier to be engaged with each chapter and get to know the spotlight character in the section. There were some great heartfelt moments and a heart-dropping, “Oh no!” When Tobias lost his phone because I FELT how important that phone was to him! But there are so many different people in very short chapters that it started to feel like none of them really mattered all that much, so it was harder to pay attention. I started to realize that characters were popping up in other vignettes, but I had a hard time remembering who they were or what their stories were. There’s too many people to keep track of, and varying first, second, and third person and different verb tenses made things even more difficult.

I wish there had been more connection between the characters, like we see a character interact with someone and then we switch to their story or something like that, to help me follow from perspective to perspective. I also maybe wish we’d gotten fewer characters and maybe had each one come back once or something like that. It just made my head hurt a little bit trying to follow.

Other than that, I enjoyed the book a lot. Some of the stories were surprisingly thoughtful or sweet. I only wish there had been fewer them or more of a narrative flow so it didn’t get boring halfway through.

I've read quite a few of his other books. This one was not one of my favorites. I felt myself getting bored with the characters since it went back and forth with so many. But it is a quick read and students may like the way it was written for a summer beach read.

Masters of Character, Schmidt and Koertge, team up on a sweet glimpse of a day a beach. Each chapter follows a kid on the beach, why they're there, what they are doing, and connections between others also enjoying the New Jersey shore. I found myself invested in each character and when each chapter came to a close, I would regret not continuing on with that character. A fun "beach" read that has surprising depth layered in.

A lighthearted beach read filled with so many interesting POVs that all connect together in different ways. I would recommend to any age not just kids, especially if they like short stories. I had a patron at my library ask for a book with short stories that would get her kid interested in reading, I think this would have been a great book to recommend.

My son found it difficult to find the point of the book. He saw themes of friendship and family. From what he has heard about other books written by Gary D. Schmidt, he considers this not as well written. This was my son's first Schmidt book. He plans to try another.
He also said that the setting of the beach was not a setting he particularly enjoys reading about. Some of the characters introduced he did enjoy. Overall, he would not recommend this as a starting point for Gary D. Schmidt.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to preview this book.

This is a middle grade novel about a day at the beach. ;) ha ha... The whole story takes place in one day at a beach in New Jersey. The chapters are grouped into sections based upon the time of day, starting from sunrise to sunset. The chapters are short and each focus on a different kid at the beach that day. Chapter by chapter you "zoom in" to see what the main person of that chapter is doing at the beach. When you step back and look at the book as a whole there are light threads of how all of the chapters are connected. The connection between the chapters is subtle and are more like "easter eggs" who remembers the names and characters from previous chapters as they make a cameo in future chapters.

I enjoy people watching. I think it is fascinating to just go to a crowded space and just watch people all around you. That is a bit of what this book felt like to me. I'd love to read more of this style of literature for other places around the world. How about a day at London Heathrow Airport? How about a day at New York Times Square? As someone who lives in Manila, it would be fun to read a book about a day on a Jeepney in Manila. This style of writing is very insightful and I enjoy it.

But as far as audience appeal, I am not sure how thrilled or excited a middle grade child would find this book. I enjoyed reading it, but I am a 46 year old woman and I enjoyed the book as an art piece more than for its story. It was an interesting and intriguing way to paint a picture of what it's like at a day at the beach in New Jersey in the summer. It's better to look at this book as a collection of short stories, because the storytelling at the chapter level was more rewarding.

I was hoping that there would be a bit more of a reward for the reader in how all of the chapters tie together at the end. There are "easter eggs" of cameo appearances of characters from previous chapters, but it is so subtle that I lost track and felt like I needed to keep a character list to see if they are ever mentioned again in the book.

(NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the ARC.)

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

This was a neat story and I think it’s a fun look at a day.

This super fun to read book is about a single day at Rockcastle Beach, New Jersey, starting at 5:45 am and finishing at 8:50 pm. The book is a collection of short stories about the people who are at the beach on that day and the different ways they use the beach, treat each other, and interact. It's as much fun as a day at the beach and the characters are interesting and well developed and crisscross in amazing ways. I thought this was great and I was sorry when it was over. A perfect summer beach read!

Every day the beach is filled with so many kids. Each kid has a unique experience. A story of their own. A Day At The Beach is a compilation of parts of many kids stories. The perfect book for when you need a short read aloud or something easy to consume yourself. The chapters are really just snippets into their beach day, into their personal lives. Yet these brief snippets are so full of emotion. It is fun to see how some of the stories overlap and come together. There are times to celebrate in their victories, laugh with them in their moments of joy, and even take in the hard to read instances about some of their heartaches. But at the end of the day you know that each one will keep going because there is “so much ahead of them…”

Gary D. Schmidt took off in a totally different direction in this book. I’ve been a summer beach goer since I was six months old and the cover art is spot on. Beaches are crowded! I frequent the North and South Carolina beaches still, much is the same: coolers, umbrellas, kites, music, funnel cakes, shaved ice, metal detectors, etc. In this book, The Jersey beach closes at 9 and the SC beaches to my knowledge don’t close.

A Day at the Beach explores a single day at Rockcastle Beach, N.J., through the perspectives of unrelated random kids enjoying or not so much enjoying the shore. It’s early morning, and siblings Jackie and Simon race across the beach before it formally opens to the public. Other accounts follow Tobias Jackson, who is just back from fat camp ready to show off his newly trim physique only to be derailed upon losing his phone. The phone is the latest state of the art model and his reward for losing weight. Hassan Ahmadi, is on his weekly beach walk with his father, when a confrontation evokes memories of immigrating from Iran. These and many other experiences of a day at the beach each character with their own issues, of racism, grief over a pet’s death, and contending with cancer’s effects on a parent Ian more which he addresses with tact and tenderness.

I could almost feel the sand and the sun while experiencing a fun day at the beach.

I enjoyed the book but am not sure it will appeal to middle grade readers.

Truly one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. I loved the concept of a single place, but multiple perspectives. Every chapter came from a different POV and the fact that the characters flowed into each others stories was amazing. I went through so many emotions getting each person’s life in just a few pages. Great book, highly recommend!

I so enjoyed this book, an assortment of interrelated stories, about various characters spending a day at the beach. This would definitely appeal to middle schoolers, where they will be able to identify with some of the characters or know someone just like them.
It contains all the elements of a satisfying read--fitting in with peers and struggling with modern-day challenges, alongside universal themes of kindness and empathy. Schmidt, along with his c0-author, has created another good one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the free eARC.

This was a bit disappointing. I adore Gary Schmidt, but this just lacked his usual magic. It felt a bit like reading a bunch of outtake chapters from a longer book. I usually really enjoy when a story briefly veers away from the primary narrative and checks in on some side characters. It adds a little extra flavor! But…there isn’t a primary narrative here, so it’s kind of like eating a big bowl of garnishes. Some of the vignettes are fun, some are heartfelt, a couple made me choke up….but at the end I was left thinking “what exactly was this?”

I suppose there’s a bit of a thread in that we begin and end with two siblings (Jackie & Simon) running on the beach, and Tobias does eventually find his phone. But we follow SO many different people in such short chapters that it’s hard to get any narrative footing. If we’d only followed…say 10 different characters, we could recognize as they pop up in one another’s narratives. But we jump around so much that those emotional beats don’t really land, because there are simply too many people to keep track of. It also irked me that there’s no rhyme or reason to the narration style. We have first, second, and third person, and all manner of verb tenses. It’s really distracting.

I think I’d have liked this if the authors had kept it to a smaller number of primary characters - even if it is just a single day. Maybe a quick jaunt with a side character (usually when authors do this, though, there’s a connection. Like you see the main character interact with someone, and then you follow THAT person for a few pages. That strategy would also have been more effective here - again, we seem to just be jumping around).

A fun collection of interlocking stories of kids and their family's day at the beach. Some stories are funny while others are more serious, but they all tie together here and there making for a fun collection leaving you wishing you were at the beach for a day.

I love this! What a magnificent compilation of lives intersecting on a day at the beach.
I can’t put his one on my classroom shelves (3⭐️ for language and some content) but it’s perfect for 9-10 grade.

I liked the idea of a teenage character who has experienced major weight loss and can now, for the first time, confidently enjoy the beach in a new way, opening up a world that was previously unavailable to him. I thought this added nuance and made the book special.

This book is very much for fans of Jason Reynolds "Look Both Ways" - a quick and easy read that focuses on a multitude of different characters spending a day at the beach whose stories sometimes intersect. While I loved the diversity found throughout the book, I do wish some of the stories were a bit longer and more fleshed out. I like that it comes full circle in the first and last chapters with a brother and sister running duo; it felt like a nice conclusion to the beach day.

I can see myself recommending this book to some of my struggling readers in sixth grade, or students who get bored with books easily. I also think individual stories could be pulled for close reading and analysis without needing to worry about missing information from other chapters or sections of the book! There are several stories that allow for some cross-curricular connections as well. Overall, I will be purchasing a copy for my classroom when it comes out and I already have a few plans for it!

A fun and dynamic book that follows a rotating cast of characters during a day at a Jersey Shore beach. I appreciated the diversity of the stories; some were funny, some were sad, some contemplative. I wish there was a little more overlap between stories and characters, but overall this was an enjoyable read that I can see myself recommending to my middle school students.

This really is similar to Seedfolks in that it's snippets of many different people's day at the beach. Characters cross and interact. Some stories are funny, others are poignant, some are sad. I appreciate what the authors did here. It is a good middle grade book, and welcome in a day where books are often VERY long.