Local Author Shares Her Love Of The Sea With Children

When Iowa native Dianne Moritz arrived on Long Island as a preteen, she often found herself entranced by the natural beauty of the ocean.

Ms. Moritz, who had lived in Commack and Los Angeles before making her home in North Sea almost three decades ago, used her love of the sea as a muse for her latest children’s book “Hush, Little Beachcomber.”

“I had never seen an ocean before, but it sounded fascinating,” Ms. Moritz said during a recent interview. “We went to the beach all the time. I was taking all the neighborhood kids.”

Since her move east, Ms. Moritz has gravitated toward the sea. “Hush, Little Beachcomber,” published late in 2010 by

Kane/Miller Book Publishers, follows the journey of several children enjoying their day at the beach. A play on the classic lullaby, “Hush, Little Baby,” the book strives to be a contemporary adaptation of the original song, Ms. Moritz said.

The inspiration to write the book came from years of research in children books and three years of drafts before it was completed. Ms. Moritz, who has also written “Santa Lives!: The Night Before Christmas” and “Shoofly: An Audiomagazine for Children,” which she co-wrote with Mickey Bond, said that she got the idea for the picture book while strolling through bookstores and libraries, where she stumbled upon similar books such as “Hush, Little Digger” and “Hush, Little Alien.” After leafing through their colorful pages, Ms. Moritz said she decided to draft her own book based on the same premise about a typical day at the beach.

Within the book’s color pages, children build sand castles, bob up and down in the waves and share a day at the beach with family and friends. Illustrations by Holly McGee bring to life Ms. Moritz’s words—the book is full of pages of pictures of children in bathing suits swimming in the bright blue ocean or lounging on the beach’s golden sands.

Though the book is marketed toward 2- to 6-year-olds, Ms. Moritz said the publication could be enjoyed by anyone who has a love for the sea. The author admitted to passing out copies to friends and their children, to rave reviews.

“One little boy said, ‘Oh, what a beautiful book!’” she recalled happily.

Ms. Moritz fell into writing naturally, she said. A former teacher in inner-city Los Angeles, she said she made the decision to leave teaching after a colleague told her that she should use her creativity to reach a wider audience.

“I was talking to a fellow teacher who taught kindergarten and she said ‘I think you’re so creative, you ought to be somewhere else,’” Ms. Moritz recalled. “This woman saw something that others didn’t see.”

Once on the East End, Ms. Moritz began her writing career. She became a reporter for the East Hampton Star and also began drafting several children’s and craft books. She reported that she also became involved with a number of writer’s groups, including the East End Poetry Group.

As summer approaches and the call of the beach becomes more apparent, Ms. Moritz said that she hopes her latest book will be enjoyed by children and parents alike. Her dream: to see the book tucked into beach bags for parents to read to their children beside the glistening sea.