Early one grey foggy morning, in an old cap "to make him look like a captain," a little boy sets out to explore the beach and finds all the treasures that children search for at the seashore; he hears the fog horn booming and the bell buoys clanking and watches the seagulls swoop down to scoop fish from the waves.

The little boy is all alone until the tide changes. Then the sun comes out. Bright colored sailboats bounce on the waves, and other people come out to sit under gayly colored umbrellas. But the little boy was the first one there—the very first one who saw the sea come in.

Roger Duvoisin's illustrations in sensitive line and clear brilliant colors are as fresh as a sea breeze, and dramatize the varying moods of a morning by the sea.

From the dust jacket