How a Childhood on LBI Inspired a Book
A childhood of island summers became a children’s book, and a love letter to Long Beach Island.
I had the amazing good fortune of growing up spending my summers on Long Beach Island, a place that always felt like a second home. There’s something special about LBI that just stays with you. Maybe it’s the ease and simplicity of island life: beach walks, family time, and traditions that have stayed the same for years, where families and friends can all be together and take in the salt air, the sound of the waves, and the awe-inspiring sunsets.
For me, Long Beach Island isn’t just a place. It’s a feeling.
It’s childhood summers and bike rides, the ice cream man ringing his bells, mini golf and boogie boarding, painting shells and doing puzzles, building traditions that stretch across generations. I cherished those times, and I couldn’t wait to share them with my own children: bringing them to all the special places, returning to the same beach each year with the same people you love, and experiencing all the magic of our island.
And that’s exactly why I wrote Shelly the Seagull’s Long Beach Island Adventures. I often wished I’d had a book just like it to read with my children. Now that they’re grown, I thought: what a perfect love letter to this island, to my parents, and to all the grandparents, parents, and children who love it as much as I do.
Back to Notes from LBIA love letter to this island, to my parents, and to everyone who loves it as much as I do.
