Look Both Ways meets Seedfolks in this masterful novel from two titans of kid lit that follows a diverse cast of young people whose lives intersect in surprising and hilarious ways over the course of a summer day.

Here’s what’s so cool about the beach. Kids are everywhere! Kids you know, kids you want to know. Wandering from one blanket to another, from one family to another. Somebody’s mom reads a fat summer novel. Somebody’s dad snores with an iPad on his chest. Babies cry. Girls laugh. Frisbee players whoop! Kites in the perfect blue sky.

Some kids bodysurf. Some don’t even like the water. They build sand cities for their friends and sand jails for the grown-ups, and when the tide comes in everything gets washed away.

There’s the other world, where all kids hear is tomorrow, next week, next year. And then there’s the beach, where everything is right now!

Why can’t every day be a day at the beach?

From two-time Newbery honoree Gary D. Schmidt and two-time PEN Award winner Ron Koertge comes a moving and often laugh-out-loud funny middle grade novel about family, friendship, and belonging, told by a group of kids spending a day at the beach. Thoughtful vignettes brilliantly weave together an irresistible tale of tween conflict and connections.

What happens when more than a dozen different kids share the same stretch of sand for a single summer day?

• Unlikely Friendships: From a boy who can't swim to a runaway bride having second thoughts, strangers connect in surprising ways between the blankets and the boardwalk.
• Humor and Heart: Laugh-out-loud moments—like a lost bathing suit and a secret circus on the sand—mix with heartfelt discoveries about family and what it means to belong.
• High-Stakes Searches: One boy frantically hunts for a priceless, one-of-a-kind phone, while a girl and a stray dog she’s befriended search for his missing owner.
• Finding Courage: A son helps his sick father feel the ocean one last time, while a young immigrant confronts a figure from his family’s painful past.