Seashells By The Seashore

A child and her companions collect a number of seashells from one to twelve.

Prolific, award-winning nonfiction author Melissa Stewart reveals the surprising ways seashells provide more than shelter to the mollusks that inhabit them. Young naturalists discover thirteen seashells in this elegant introduction to the remarkable versatility of shells. Dual-layered text highlights how shells provide more than a protective home in this expository nonfiction exploration. The informative secondary text underscores characteristics specific to each shell. Elegant watercolor illustrations create a scrapbook feel, depicting children from around the world observing and sketching seashells across shores.

As any visitor to the beach knows, all sorts of treasures can be found if you know how and where to look. This beautifully illustrated pocket guide helps young beachcombers find and identify shells of animals commonly found on northeastern shores. Writing specifically with the Northeast in mind, author and artist Joanne Roach-Evans describes clams, limpets, whelks, mussels, oysters, periwinkles, and more, in gentle prose with just the right amount of scientific information to satisfy the budding explorer. Easy enough for preschoolers to understand, but scientific enough to satisfy a middle-schooler, Seashells will appeal to any beach lover.

The beautifully written story of shells and their makers, and our relationships with them. Seashells are the sculpted homes of a remarkable group of animals: the molluscs. These are some of the most ancient and successful animals on the planet. But watch out. Some molluscs can kill you if you eat them. Some will kill you if you stand too close. That hasn't stopped people using shells in many ways over thousands of years. They became the first jewelry and oldest currencies; they've been used as potent symbols of sex and death, prestige and war, not to mention a nutritious (and tasty) source of food. Spirals in Time is an exuberant aquatic romp, revealing amazing tales of these undersea marvels. Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology. Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution. Shells are also bellwethers of our impact on the natural world. Some species have been overfished, others poisoned by polluted seas; perhaps most worryingly of all, molluscs are expected to fall victim to ocean acidification, a side-effect of climate change that may soon cause shells to simply melt away. But rather than dwelling on what we risk losing, Spirals in Time urges you to ponder how seashells can reconnect us with nature, and heal the rift between ourselves and the living world.

This book tells the amazing story behind seashells: how they are made by mollusks, used for protection and camouflage, and full of clues about all theyOCOve been through. Inspired by Next Time You See a Seashell, young readers will find these intricate objects even more fascinating when they discover their origins in slimy, snaily creatures. Awaken a sense of wonder in a child with these books and inspire elementary-age children to experience the enchantment of everyday phenomena such as seashells and sunsets."

A summer classic by two masters, reissued and redesigned for contemporary audiences. Wendell Minor’s elegant artwork and Charlotte Zolotow’s simple, evocative prose brings a day at the beach vividly to life as a boy and his mother imagine what it would be like to spend a day at the seashore. Hunting for seashells and building sandcastles, this tribute to the power of imagination and the tenderness of a mother-child connection is also a sweet ode to summer's greatest pastimes. Perfect for storytime or bedtime.