'Sandcastles Made Simple'

Just in time for summer vacations comes "Sandcastles Made Simple" (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $10.95) by Lucinda "Sandy Feet" Wierenga. Wierenga is an international award-winning sandcastle artist. The book includes four sections: The Basics (tools, methods, info on sand); Building (soft-packing, hand-stacking and using forms); Carving (roofs, architectural elements, characters, etc.); and Make It Fun (tips for working in big groups, with children and how to enter contests, etc.). Some of the photos are quite daunting — certainly not projects for beginners — but they are all inspirational. A project in the back of the book, aimed at working with kids, actually looked like something I could do — make a sea turtle. Even those of us who don't feel compelled to build a 5-foot Disney Cinderella Castle-like construction will learn some valuable basic tips for better sand sculpting.

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