Beach (review)

Readers who've taken Cooper's visual tours of dance company (Dance!, BCCB 9/01), country fair (Country Fair, 3/98), and ballpark (Ballpark, 9/97) will welcome his latest outing to the oceanside. A slim slice of gently whitecapped water is sandwiched between generous slabs of sandy shore and cloud-tufted sky, and bathers arrive ready for a day of activities every shore bird will recognize. On the sand you find sunblock slatherers, umbrella wrestlers, towel spreaders, sandcastle builders, kite fliers, and crab-style racers. Water approaches range from cautious waders to bold jumpers to victims of playful dunkings. There are buff bods, thunder thighs, and beer bellies, sunbaked from rare to well done. But this is a Cooper trip, so there's more here than simply meets the eye: take in the "roar of a motorboat," "the whine of Jet Skis," "the ruffle of sails," the silence of "the old man and the sea kayak." Taste the peanut-butter sandwiches and peaches; smell the grills and the ocean. Nature puts on her own show: clouds that take on shapes ("This cloud is a whale eating a pancake. This cloud is the shape of Alaska, no, Hawaii") and waves pile "in craggy peaks and sweeping plains . . . and they leave with a quiet pull." The entire visual spectacle is accomplished though graceful snippets of line with watercolor fill of delicate transparency or inky depth, composed into double-page spreads, sequential strips, or merely stacks of images on pure white backdrop. Celebrate summer in style.