123 Gulls offers a fresh take on a counting book, as a trio of intrepid seagulls makes its way through an island winter wonderland. They skate, ski, and collect items, counting down from ten mittens to one snowy surprise. The gulls also experience 50 and 100, until one moon puts them to sleep in the end. Little ones can start by learning numbers while early counters will have fun finding all the items. Parents and caregivers will appreciate the playful rhyming text as they show children that enjoying winter is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
Beth Rand is a self-taught illustrator who has published her own line of greeting cards and a poster calendar featuring Maine imagery. Her first children's picture book, ABC Gulls, came out in March 2017 from Islandport Press, as well as her 2018 desktop calendar, "Sun Salt Happy". Her second book, 123 Gulls, will be released in October, 2018.
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, having a Navy dentist for a dad meant that Rand had an itinerant childhood, moving from Maryland to Rhode Island to South Carolina and even Sicily. Since graduating from the University of Maine, she has made Maine her home. For twenty years, she and her husband lived in Cape Elizabeth, where they successfully raised three children. Then they hopped on the ferry to Peaks Island and never looked back. Rand now lives on the island with her husband and dog, in a home surrounded by seagulls, sunshine, and salt air. When foul weather keeps her inside, illustration becomes the focus.
