Mother Beach

Countless individuals walk beaches daily searching for frosted nuggets sea glass. Readers are invited on a quiet walk along the shoreline with the narrator, where they visit and pay homage to an old friend, Mother Beach.  Several pieces of colorful, weather-worn glass are picked up along the way and carefully inspected within the reflective verse. Free-hand sketches and watercolor washes provide a lovely backdrop for the author's personal journey of discovery and wonder.   Young listeners will enjoy the easy rhythm of the verse as they search the pages for hidden treasures.  Back matter includes fun facts about the color and origins of beach and sea glass. Beneath the matte-laminated, illustrated jacket is a hardcover of textured, speckled oatmeal paper and the glistening face of mother beach.

Patty "PK" Merski began writing jingles and stories at a very young age, just for fun.   She holds a BS in Management Information Systems and worked on innovative projects in health care for many years. She then became a stay-at-home mom, raised three children and started a publishing company, Skeezel Press, with the creation of a single title, Roaring, Boring Alice (A Story of the Aurora Borealis).  She wrote Mother Beach many years ago to honor fond memories of summers spent at Presque Isle State Park and her Grandma's cottage, the setting for the story and where her love for finding beach glass began.  Specimens featured in the book are from her personal collection.  Patty and her husband, Ron, currently live along the shores of Lake Erie and enjoy traveling, while she continues to create and write, usually in rhyme!

Originally from the Philadelphia area, Chanda currently lives in Chicago where she works as a designer, creating experiences and services for clients in a range of industries.  Chanda's work draws on research and a passion for understanding people and their stories.  She holds a BFA in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University.  Mother Beach is her first illustration project.

Originally from Erie, PA I was pleasantly surprised to receive a gift from a high school friend in the mail all the way down where I currently live. It is a beautiful book called Mother Beach and it transported me back to my childhood years of visiting my grandparent’s cottage and collecting beach glass. When I read the book, I immediately thought of that cottage and my two Aunts who now own it and made up my mind to buy a copy of the book to send it to them so they could display it at their cottage. Then I read the author’s name and was pleasantly surprised to see it was my cousin who authored such a creative work. No surprise to me to see that Patty is still being, doing and living an inspired life. Great job Patty! Can’t wait to see what you publish next. Thank you. (And a great big thank you to my dear friend, Dar, who sent the book to me. What are the odds!!??)