Seashells: More Than A Home
by Melissa Stewart; illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen
32 pages; ages 6-9
Charlesbridge, 2019
Every day, seashells wash up on beaches all over Earth, like treasures from a secret world beneath the waves.
They come in all sizes, colors, and shapes. That’s because they have so many different jobs to do. In this book Melissa Stewart explains how some shells function to allow the mollusk to dive deeper into the water, or tunnel into the seabed to hide from a predator. Some shells blend in with their background, while others light up.
What I like LOVE about this book: I always learn something new when I read one of Melissa’s books. This time I learned about a clusterwink snail that produces light! I also like that the text is written for two reading levels. For example, large text on the second spread reads, “Seashells can rise and sink like a submarine…” The smaller text adds details to how the nautilus pumps water into the shell to sink.
I love Sarah Brannen’s watercolors. Not only does she show amazing details about the shells, but she includes children drawing shells, and journal sketches with notes. And the colors are so warm and soft I just want to take off my shoes and socks and stick my feet in a sandbox.
I love the end pages that show the mollusk habitats and ranges. And the wonderful spread at the back where you can learn more about the five largest groups of mollusks. One thing Sarah writes in her illustrator’s note sticks with me: “You never see something as clearly as when you try to draw it.” That’s why I try to sketch things I see when I head outside. Drawing what you see in nature makes you slow down and look more closely at the details.
Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some Beyond-the-Book activities.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
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