Beach Kids Feel No Pain: Growing Up On, and Writing About, the Jersey Shore, a guest post by Nicole Melleby

“Beach kids feel no pain…They move with the tide and have no worries. Beach kids at the Jersey Shore have always known that life is just one big party at their hands.” – The Asbury Park Press

I’m at a McDonald’s drive thru with my wife, even though neither of us remember the last time we actually ate McDonald’s. As we order and pull up to the window, I quickly remember a bunch of times spent at this particular McDonald’s, specifically when I was young. My brother preferred Burger King, which was on the other side of the highway. We’d argue over which my mom should take us to, though Matthew frequently won because Burger King just happened to be on the side of the highway we were always driving on. 

Fast food doesn’t agree with my stomach these days, nor Liz’s for that matter, but we were starving. We had just come from the graduation for the MFA where I teach and hadn’t eaten. It was my first time teaching with the program I myself had graduated from six years ago, and as we sit in the drive thru approaching midnight–contemplating how these would be the best McNuggets I ever had even though I’d pay for it tomorrow morning–I ask Liz what she thought of all of the other faculty members she hadn’t met until tonight. 

“I was talking with Padma for a bit,” Liz says. “She asked if I was from the same area as you. She thinks people who never left their home town are fascinating.” 

Liz had grown up and spent time in a number of different places. I’m the one who was born and raised and grew up only to settle down myself right here, a true Jersey shore kid. 

It’s not the first time someone has said something similar about me. It’s not even the first time I’ve thought about it. My mentor in the MFA program lives in Barcelona part time and had recently emailed me saying she was “dreading coming back” to New York City. A few days later, I would be sitting on the beach, reading another faculty professor’s memoir, filled with stories from her time spent in Italy. While I did travel, I maybe spent a week out of the year outside of New Jersey, and my biggest memories, the things that shaped who I am and what I was, they all happened here.

My life has always been here. 

I was a beach kid who grew up with the New York City skyline looming over us across the bay. It was, admittedly, a frustrating view; we spent a lot of time as kids vowing we would leave our hometown for that city some day. It was impossibly far away, but right there, and I spent a lot of time staring at that skyline, telling myself I would get out of here and be free in the city once I was grown. We all told ourselves that, I think. We all talked about it, at least–about our big plans to leave New Jersey for the city. It was bigger there. More free. We could disappear and we could stand out and we could live our lives the way we wanted to, if only we could make our way across the bay. 

That was the plan, anyway.

Instead, I didn’t leave.

When I think about growing up on the Jersey shore, I think about kayaking out to pick mussels with my brother that we would bring home for my mom to clean and cook up with red sauce. I think about being young enough to be lifted onto my dad’s shoulders as he walked out on the bay, feeling for clam shells with his feet. I think about walking along the seawall with my cousins, scraping our knees when our flip flops got trapped between the rocks and getting yelled at by our parents to be more careful.

I think about how I don’t remember learning how to swim; I just always remember knowing how to and knowing when to dive under a wave in the ocean, and knowing how hard it is to breathe when you get it wrong and the wave knocks you around, spinning you uncontrollably, until you’re lying face first in the sand. I think about the days my mom had to wash and brush out the fish eggs from my long hair.

I think about that one time I caught the biggest fish on my dad’s boat, and the picture they took of me holding it got hung up in our house even though I hated that picture and always hid it when I had friends come over. I think about being a teenager with those same friends, hanging out on the beach after dark when the beach was closed until the cops would shine their flashlights at us, yelling at us to get off.

I think about sitting with my cousins on my dad’s boat on the Fourth of July, surrounded by what seemed like a million other boats, as the sky grew dark, and we lay up on the bow watching fireworks light up the sky.

All of that was what I wanted to capture when I sat down to right the Sunrise Lagoon books. I wanted to write about kids like me, who know what it feels like to grow up in a place other people spend a week or two at for vacation in the summer; a place that, for them, for me, is home all year round. I wanted to capture what it means to be a beach kid on the Jersey shore, surrounded by family, where the sea-salted water is as much part of your house as the kitchen and living room.

Most of all, I wanted to share those feelings, my home, with my readers.

Welcome to Jersey, and to Sunrise Lagoon.

Meet the author

Nicole Melleby, a New Jersey native, is the author of highly praised middle-grade books, including theLambda Literary finalist Hurricane Season and ALA Notable book How to Become a Planet. She lives with her wife and their cat, whose need for attention oddly aligns with Nicole’s writing schedule. Visit her online at nicolemelleby.com and @LadyMelleby on Twitter.

About The House on Sunrise Lagoon: Sam Makes a Splash

From acclaimed author Nicole Melleby comes a cheerful, uplifting story of family and belonging, the first in new series perfect for fans of the Vanderbeekers and the Penderwicks.

If you want to get to know eleven-year-old Samantha Ali-O’Connor, you need to know three things:

One, she isn’t the only one of her siblings who is adopted, but she is the only one whose name isn’t inspired by the ocean.

Two, she and Harbor always compete with each other to be the best Oldest Sibling—and just about everything else.

And three, she is determined to prove she’s a real Ali-O’Connor by taking over the family business, repairing and chartering boats.

Except there’s a Capital-P Problem: Her mothers have been Serious Whispering about selling the business before summer’s end! Sam needs to come up with a plan, quick, before Harbor finds out. And before Sam loses her chance to inherit the business and be an Ali-O’Connor forever. 

ISBN-13: 9781523523771
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Publication date: 05/09/2023
Series: The House on Sunrise Lagoon #1
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

About The House on Sunrise Lagoon: Marina in the Middle

Return to Sunrise Lagoon in this warmhearted sequel, which finds anxious middle child Marina making waves on her journey to trusting herself.

If you want to get to know Marina Ali-O’Connor, you need to know three things:

One, despite her name, Marina is secretly afraid of the water.

Two, she wanted to be one of the Oldest Siblings, but is stuck smack dab in the middle.

Three, she’s pretty certain she’s the Extra Ali-O’Connor kid—the forgotten one.

When Boom, a budding filmmaker exactly Marina’s age, moves in across the lagoon, she decides that Marina’s quest to become someone’s favorite Ali-O’Connor would make a perfect documentary. But when each plan goes a little bit wrong, Marina begins to wonder if she’ll ever feel like she belongs, or if she’ll always be lost in the middle.

ISBN-13: 9781523523801
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Publication date: 05/09/2023
Series: The House on Sunrise Lagoon #2
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

Filed under: Guest Post