Seashells by the Seashore

Awards

Book Reviews

Through a lyrical counting rhyme, children accompany Sue as she walks the shore, collecting seashells for her grandmother. The rhythmic lines reinforce numbers 1 through 12, while describing individual shells and explaining what shells are and how they came to be on the sandy shore. The strong-stroked watercolor art subtly educates as well, depicting not only the traditional sweep of wide, clean, swimmers’ beach but also the rougher edges of the shore. It’s along the shore that sea birds prowl alongside Sue amid the large, rough boulders and between the feathers, driftwood, and other ocean debris caught in tangles of dried seaweed and rocks. With each turn of the page, a new shell is discovered, identified, and displayed in the wide left margin. At rhyme’s end, the text elaborates on the poem’s basic facts, delivering details about each particular shell. A seashell identification chart completes this instructive shell hunt that children will enjoy even if they can’t feel the sun on their backs or sand between their toes.

— Booklist – Ellen Mandel (March 2002)

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In this rhyming text, a young girl accumulates a dozen shells as a gift for Grandma’s birthday. Watercolor seashore vistas feature blonde Sue as she enlists her brother and his friend in finding her treasures. A vertical bar on the left side of each spread gathers the labeled collection together for viewing as the day progresses. Berkes offers ample facts in her rhymes, and gives a short paragraph of information on each type of shell on a spread at the end. . . . Noreika’s detailed, realistic shell studies gracefully contrast with the misty landscapes that capture a range of unique seaside hues. While the tear-out identification card for readers to use as they roam the shore may soon be lost, young beachcombers will still be able to appreciate this lesson.
(Publisher’s Note: The tear-out shell identification card referred to in this review is only included in the paperback version of this title.)

— School Library Journal (April 2002)

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As we walk along the beach, who can resist the impulse to collect treasures that have been tossed upon the beach by the waves? Marianne Berkes translates her love of nature into a lyrical exploration of the delights of a pocketful of shells found on a sunny day at the seashore. Robert Noreika’s water-color illustrations transport readers to a luminous day at the beach. The realistic depictions of seashells on each page and the scientific information about them in the back of the book make the book a purveyor of a learning experience that enhances the enjoyment of a trip to the beach.

— Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media (March 2002)

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So many wonderful features to this book, where do we start? The rhyme, so simple yet so full of information for the reader, takes us for a stroll on the beach. Shells are identified, their purpose discussed and best of all counted as they go into the sand bucket. Where most books count to ten, a good number for beginners, this one leads the young counter on to discover twelve. Relationships are explored as the hunt for shells brings together family and friends to find a special gift. Respect for life, as living shells are returned to the sea. All of this portrayed with words and vivid watercolors. The wonderful illustrations show us even more about the beach, the colors of sand and water, the abundance of life; people, birds, and sea creatures. A book to be enjoyed, by all ages and in all seasons of the year. My preschool class took a break from winter to remember about the beach and dream of warm days to come.

— Missouri State Univ. Library Review (October 2005)

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In pleasant, lilting rhyme, a boy and girl search for shells for grandmother’s birthday. What lifts this book above others are the identifying illustrations of two dozen shells with a tear-out card for the beach. The sun-washed, painted illustrations by Robert Noreika are beautiful, but the most thoughtful touch is the last shell the children find. This one still has the mollusk living inside, and the kids return it to the water.

— Cleveland Plain Dealer – Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy (June 30, 2002)

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Seashells by the Seashore by Marianne Berkes, illustrated by Robert Noreika, tells the story of Sue and Ben collecting shells for their grandmother in gentle loose rhyme. Shells are properly identified as the children pick up one after another, counting to twelve along the way. The watercolor illustrations are warm and lively, successfully conveying the sense of an early summer day amidst the natural clutter found on a seashore. An index gives details of the shells the children collect, and a waterproof tear-out identification card, suitable for beach viewing, shows 26 common and easily recognizable shells. This small publisher based in Nevada City is fast becoming renowned for its excellent ecology-themed books (Dawn Publications).

— California Kids! – Connie Goldsmith (June 2002)

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Sun beams and sand gleams in Seashells by the Seashore, an engaging counting poem by Marianne Berkes. One by one, Sue picks up shells — periwinkle, kitten’s paw, scallop — and carefully adds them to her bucket as a gift for Grandma. Robert Noreika’s watercolors shimmer with all the color and light of a July day. At the end, the 12 shells are described in more detail for those curious about moon, cockle and jingle shells. A lovely book to share before, after or during an outing at the beach.

— Washington Parent – Mary Quattlebaum (July 2002)

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Charmingly written by Marianne Berkes and featuring the artwork of Robert Noreika, Seashells by the Seashore is a beautifully illustrated color picturebook story, written in simple rhyming verse, about a young girl who combs the beach collecting various and fascinating different shells. The importance of conservation and living in harmony with nature is alluded to, in a wonderful, very highly recommended picturebook story that comes with a tear-out seashell identification card for budding collectors.

— Midwest Book Review – Children’s Bookwatch (March 2002)

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Most kids – and adults – have spent time walking a beach collecting shells. Especially here in South Florida. This book, written in lyrical verse, enhances appreciation for these beautiful works of nature. Not only will children have fun identifying different kinds of shells; they’ll also learn a little about nature as they realize some shells are homes of sea creatures. It’s a perfect combination for author Marianne Berkes, a former early childhood educator and recently retired librarian who lives near the beach and loves to collect shells. Berkes has presented special storytelling programs related to her books in numerous Palm Beach County schools. . . . The paperback edition of Seashells by the Seashore also contains a pullout shell identification card for kids to take along to the beach to assist in their discovery and appreciation of nature. . . .

— South Florida Parenting (February 2003)

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In her second book, author Marianne Berkes has returned to the water life she knows and loves. This delightful paperback is enhanced by Robert Noreika’s delicate watercolors, and made more valuable by the tear-out shell identification card. Dawn Publications is to be commended for producing this title in its informative and handsome series of books for children. Berkes’ counting-shell poem is fun for children to recite . . .

— Hutton Book-Review Services – Linda Hutton – April 2002

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I love the gentle conservation message in this beautiful story!

— Michelle McKenzie – Monterey Bay Aquarium

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To name a thing is to own it. In this lovely lilting rhyme, children walk the beach, counting, naming, and owning forever the Kitten Paws and other beautiful shells, and the creatures that lived in them.

— Margery Facklam, author of Bugs for Lunch

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This book introduces various familiar types of seashells (and includes a tear-out shell identification card) but is also a counting book, numbers 1 to 12. Impressionistic watercolor illustrations are charming, and the information about seashells will fascinate young beachcombers ages 4 to 10.
(Publisher’s Note: The tear-out shell identification card referred to in this review is only included in the paperback version of this title.)

— Tampa Tribune (September 15, 2002)

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Little sea creatures build their shell homes in a wonderful variety of shapes and colors. In this engaging rhyme, children comb the beach, counting, collecting, and naming the shells and appreciating the creatures that lived in them. Supplemental material gives a simple scientific overview of shells and the creatures that create them. The paperback edition comes with a tear-out shell identification card of the 12 common shell varieties featured in the book, plus another dozen shells that might be found. Ages 4 to 10.

— Arizona Networking News (May 2002)

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(3 stars – highest rating) The rhyming in this book is so soothing. It makes for an excellent blend of a poetic touch, with the animated hue this story seems to cast upon the characters and the setting it shares with young readers. The carefully placed pictures of the shells it is speaking of, placed on the top of each page, with their accompanying name, adds to the interesting facts one will learn when they experience this excellent children’s title. All of these special details, adding to the delight of anyone encountering these pages.

The graphics are simply charming, and even though the pages seem to rhyme like a poem, the story moves ahead, in a very nice even pace . . . keeping the reader wondering what they will find next on their journey, as they walk the pages of the story as the children within the book walk the beach.

At the end of the book, it has listed all of the shells it has spoken of within the story, and gives a detailed description of what each one looks like. This makes it easier to identify them, as you run across them on your own beach walks. You will learn many fun filled, interesting facts herein.

If you enjoy the ocean, the beach, the sand, the crashing waters and the shells of the sea – you will be so thrilled when you find your young readers so entranced within its mystical reaches, as it endeavors to pull the reader in, to experience a stroll on the beach, from the eyes of the children within the story.

A very fun book that mom will enjoy as well. Not lengthy, easy to read – and a whole lot of fun! This one should not be missed, it is simply adorable, captivating and charming.

— Education Clearing House (June 2002)

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A pleasant introduction to shell collecting, this volume uses 12 four-line rhymes to discuss 12 different common shells, each on a delightful two-page spread painting of shore life. Numerous little features of flotsam and jetsam found on the beach, as well as several kinds of shore birds, are left unmentioned in text, but are useful for discussion. Marginal illustrations of the 12 shells from the 12 pages are reproduced together in a larger format on a single heavy-paper tear-out identifier page, with other common shells shown on the reverse. . .

— Science Books & Films – Edwin Roedder (Sept./Oct. 2002)

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Little sea creatures build their shell homes in a wonderful variety of shapes and colors. In this engaging rhyme, children comb the beach, counting, collecting, and naming the Moon Shell and other beautiful shells, appreciating the creatures that lived in them. The paperback edition contains a tear-out shell identification card to enhance the hands-on lesson in nature’s simple wonders.

— Clearing Magazine (Winter 2002)

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Sue, her brother Ben, and their friend Evan are down on the beach. They are collecting sea shells, trying to find as many different kinds as they can. Sue begins with a little Perwinkle which she puts into her pink bucket. Further down the beach, in amongst the sand dunes, she finds an Olive Shell. A fan shaped scallop shell is her fifth find. Ben and Sue are collecting the shells to give to their grandmother for her birthday and Evan helps out by adding “a heavy Ark Shell” to the collection in the pink bucket.

As the sun is setting the children clean the shells that they found and head home to Grandma’s house. All in all they have twelve shells of all different shapes and sizes to give her. Their thirteenth find had to be put back into the sea because it still had someone living in it!

This carefully presented picture book will give children an excellent introduction to some of the commonly found shells that they are likely to find as they walk along the beach. Soft watercolor illustrations and a gentle rhyming text captures the gentle atmosphere of Sue’s exploration along the shore.

At the back of the book the author has included an interesting description of shells and the creatures that live in them. There is also a guide to the shells that appear in the book, and a laminated tear-out shell identification card which readers can take with them to the beach.

— Through The Looking Glass Children’s Book Reviewe (August 2007)