Artist Roland Harvey is well known for his intricate drawings of everyday scenes and the host of tiny jokes and details he puts into them.  His trademark bird’s eye views of neighbourhoods and towns have so many little figures engaged in their private lives (weeding gardens, riding bikes, getting chased by sharks) that it takes you a while to notice the flying saucers and pirate flags. 

All this makes his work perfect for a fun search in the “Where’s Wally?” tradition.  At the Beach: postcards from Crabby Spit follows a family on holiday at the typical beach-side caravan park of Crabby Spit.  The three kids, Penny, Frankie and Henry, send a series of postcards to their grandmother, which sit in the corner of a double page scene telling the kid’s version of that particular episode.  The caravan park, the beach, the rainy day, the bonfire, the fishing, all feature in amazing and very funny detail.  The way Harvey shows the different ways that people wear their bathers is hilarious. Even the Citroen 2CV towing their caravan slowly dawns on you.

Through it all rides Roland Harvey himself, on his old pushbike, with easel and paints for his artist’s holiday.  He keeps losing things along the way and the reader’s challenge is to find them all by the end of the book.  This has the added bonus of making you scan the whole scene carefully, finding more and more jokes and clever observations. 

At the Beach: postcards from Crabby Spit is an ideal holiday book for children and parents to read together.  So much is typical of Australian beach holidays, yet there is enough to make everyone laugh and search for more details. 

Review by David Beagley

© 2004 David Beagley