Dear Reader,

Water Sings Blue started when I wrote a poem about a jellyfish. I was thinking about how jellyfish look like those glass cake dishes—you know, the ones with a glass dome on top that has a kind of ruffled edge? Anyway, I turned that into a poem. And then I decided I’d like to write more poems about ocean animals, and the ocean itself, and the beach.

Have you ever been to the beach? It’s different from anywhere else. First of all, the air smells like salt and a little bit like dead fish or at least dead kelp. We used to find long ropes of yellow kelp that had washed up on the beach when I was a kid. The kelp has these little knot-looking things that are full of air and help the kelp float.

There are lots of seagulls on the beach, and they’re always hungry, hoping to get some of your picnic. They have a sort of rough squawk, so when a whole flock of them starts yelling, it’s pretty noisy!

I like the pelicans better. They waddle on land, but they fly gracefully.

I entered a local Valentine's Day contest with a poem I wrote and illustrated. I won!

The sand is hot and dry up away from the water, with little prickly twigs that poke your feet if you forget to wear flip-flops. When you get closer to the water, you go down a little hill, and the sand gets damper. Right by the water, the sand is firm and slightly wet. When you walk, your feet don’t sink in. Instead they make shimmering footprints that disappear almost instantly.

Most little kids play a game where they chase the waves as the waves recede and then run back screeching when the waves return and follow them up the beach, splashing at their heels. Of course, it’s always a good idea to build a sandcastle. These weird little sand crabs that look like big bugs or very small lobsters live just under the damp sand. You can catch them if you dig fast and have them live in your sandcastle for a little bit. They make very ugly kings and queens and princesses!

At first the water feels really cold, but if you stay in for a while you get used to it. My sisters and brothers and I used to ride boogie boards out into the water. It’s like surfing, only easier because you lie on your stomach on a short Styrofoam board and don’t have to stand up. If you swim out past the wave line, you can lie on your board, feeling the sun on your back and the cool water around your legs. You try not to think about sharks. And your shoulders get sunburned.

That’s when you go back in to sit on your towel and eat a sandwich. There isn’t necessarily sand in your sandwich, but there’s sand just about everywhere else. Then you watch the water. You listen to it, too. The waves roll in over and over, always the same yet a little different every time. They look like green glass when they arch up high on sunny days, and then they crash down, turning into white foam that slips up the sand.

So that’s the beach.

When I decided to write a book of ocean poems, I thought of a bunch of sea creatures and made a list. Then I looked on the Internet and in books to find out about even more sea creatures. I also included things like sand and the ocean itself, wondering what they would say if they could speak. I ended up writing about 80 poems! Some were better than others, of course, but I had a lot of fun thinking about and writing each one.

Remember how I told you about that jellyfish poem? I ended up writing two more. I used to go down to the Long Beach Aquarium and watch the moon jellyfish. They’re very beautiful in a strange way. Like white balloons. Like breaths of air when it’s very cold. Like glass cake dishes, the ruffled kind.

Your friend,

Kate Coombs

Download a copy of “Your Friend, Kate” HERE.

Enjoy a ReaderKidZ interview with Kate HERE.

For more about Kate and her books, visit her website HERE.

I grew up in Camarillo, California, where I spent every minute I could reading. When I was little, my parents read us stacks of bedtime stories every ight. Then when my sister and I got old enough, we rode our bikes to the library every Saturday and picked out 10 books—which was the limit. I used to shake my head when I saw kids who only picked out one or two books. Back home, I would hide behind the house reading, avoiding homework and chores. Oh, and I used to get up late at night, supposedly to go to the bathroom, and just stay in the bathroom reading for hours. My mom wondered why I was so tired all the time! After about four days, all the books would be gone. Then I was a pretty normal kid till it was time to go to the library again. Besides all that reading, I started writing poems and stories and plays in grade school. My plays tended to feature me as the Glorious Queen and my sister as the Quiet Servant Girl. She was a pretty good sport!

Did you ever get into trouble at home or school?

When I was in third grade, my teacher called my mom to tell her I was hitting people. My mom asked me to stop, and I explained that I needed to hit people for self-defense. She asked me to please, please stop, and I finally agreed, but then I added, “I’ll pinch them instead.” I did actually stop, but only to make my mother happy. At the time, it seemed like a bum deal to me!

My parents read us bedtime stories every night.

What books were favorites as a child?

I read all kinds of books as a child, but three of my favorites were The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon, The Wicked Enchantment by Margot Benary-Isbert, and Taash and the Jesters by Ellen Kindt McKenzie. I still like those books! Other favorites included the Narnia books, Harriet the Spy, The Secret Garden, and the Nancy Drew series. Oh, and Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes, though I only took ballet classes for about a year. (It was those sisters I liked!) As a sixth grader, I entered a contest to see who could read the most Newbery Award and Honor books and won.

Did you have a nickname and if so what is it?  Is there a story behind your nickname?

When I was a baby, my parents thought “Kathryn” was too big a name for me. They tried to think of a nickname, but couldn’t settle on anything. Then they came home from a night out and heard the babysitter singing an old song to me, “K-K-K-Katie, b-b-beautiful Katie, you’re the only g-g-g-girl that I adore! When the m-moon shines over the cowshed, I’ll be waiting by the k-k-k-kitchen door.” And that was it. I became Katie. It stuck till I was 12, when I changed it to Kate because my father suggested it would be more grown up.

This is everyone in my family except my older brother, who was in the army at the time. All seven of us are adopted.

What advice do you have for aspiring young readers and writers?

Read and read and read. All of the books you read will become your secret writing teachers: they will show you how sentences are put together, let alone stories. They’ll teach you about setting and character and plot even as they are entertaining you and making life that much more fun. Of course, the other thing you should do is write and write and write. Have fun with words and ideas. If you’re ever stuck, try the magic of “what if,” tinkering with possibilities till you find something you love and decide to turn it into a story or poem.

What’s the hardest part about writing a book?

The hardest part is finding the time and moving the project forward. An author named Jane Yolen reminds us that if we want to write a book, we need to practice BIC. That stands for Butt in Chair! I have learned that if I write even for 15-20 minutes several times a week, eventually I will have a book. A lot of people talk about writing books, but you just plain have to get the work done. Of course, story-making is a satisfying kind of work.

Download a copy of Kate’s story HERE.

Read “Your Friend, Kate Coombs (A Letter to Young Readers)” HERE.

For more about Kate and her books, visit her website HERE.