Melissa Stewart
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Seashells

More Than a Home

Seashells More Than a Home

by Melis­sa Stewart

illus by Sarah S. Brannen

Charles­bridge, 2019

for ages 5 to 9

ISBN 978–1‑58089–810‑2 (HC)
ISBN 978–1‑62354–173‑6 (PB)

Pur­chase this book at your local inde­pen­dent book­seller or Amazon.com.

Dis­cov­er the sur­pris­ing ways seashells pro­vide more than shel­ter to the mol­lusks that inhab­it them in this fas­ci­nat­ing intro­duc­tion to the remark­able ver­sa­til­i­ty of shells. Seashells can pry like a crow­bar, flit and flut­ter like a but­ter­fly, let in light like a win­dow, and much, much more. Rich, ele­gant water­col­or illus­tra­tions cre­ate a scrap­book feel, depict­ing chil­dren from around the world observ­ing and sketch­ing seashells across shores.

Honors and Awards

  • Con­necti­cut Nut­meg Book Award Nominee
  • Cor­rell Book Award for Excel­lence in Ear­ly Child­hood Infor­ma­tion­al Text
  • Cybils Award Final­ist, Ele­men­tary Nonfiction
  • Junior Library Guild Selection
  • Key­stone to Read­ing Ele­men­tary Book Award Finalist
  • Land of Enchant­ment Book Award Nominee
  • Mis­souri Dog­wood Book List for Nonfiction
  • Pic­ture Book Look Sum­mer Book Club Pick

Reviews

  “In this hand­some com­pan­ion vol­ume to the ALA Notable book Feath­ers: Not Just for Fly­ing (2014), Stew­art and Bran­nen pro­vide insights into why seashells vary so great­ly in shape, size, and col­or. Beyond pro­vid­ing pro­tec­tion for aquat­ic ani­mals, shells some­times offer forms of loco­mo­tion, dis­guise, warn­ings, tools, and waste removal…. The beau­ti­ful water­col­or paint­ings work seam­less­ly with the text to clar­i­fy con­cepts, while keep­ing the book’s audi­ence in mind. Sug­gest­ing new ways to think about seashells, this vol­ume is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed for sci­ence col­lec­tions.” (Book­list, starred review)

“A well-researched addi­tion to the ocean bio­me canon, Seashells is unique in that it pairs form with func­tion. Both the text and illus­tra­tions present infor­ma­tion that is easy to digest and under­stand… The lan­guage is not too infor­ma­tion­al or too poet­ic; it is just the right amount of col­or­ful and inter­est­ing… A delight­ful addi­tion to an ele­men­tary library’s non­fic­tion col­lec­tion.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“Feath­ers are decep­tive­ly sim­ple mar­vels of adap­ta­tion, pro­vid­ing not just loco­mo­tion for birds, but also pro­tec­tion, warmth, dec­o­ra­tion, and com­fort. This book cel­e­brates the amaz­ing ver­sa­til­i­ty of these eas­i­ly rec­og­niz­able objects, which young read­ers might find right in their own back­yards. Vivid­ly ren­dered water­col­or illus­tra­tions of feath­ers in life-sized scale com­ple­ment the straight­for­ward text that describes 16 species of birds and the unex­pect­ed func­tions of their feath­ers. Com­mon birds, such as jays, car­di­nals, pen­guins, and swans, share pages with more exot­ic species, like the rosy-faced love­bird of Namib­ia and a type of sand­grouse found in the Gobi Desert. Stew­art describes how chicks suck on the wet feath­ers of their par­ents to quench their thirst and how males of some species can play a type of high-pitched, squeaky love song by shak­ing their wings to attract female mates. Part sci­ence jour­nal, part read-along non­fic­tion, Feath­ers suc­ceeds in what such sci­ence books for young read­ers should strive to do: help young minds spot the extra­or­di­nary in the seem­ing­ly mun­dane.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“This well-exe­cut­ed book … deliver[s] infor­ma­tion in an engag­ing, acces­si­ble way. Each spread brings to light well-researched exam­ples of shells read­ers may have seen on the beach. How­ev­er, now they will be able to under­stand the rea­sons for these shells’ shapes and con­fig­u­ra­tions … an empow­er­ing, engag­ing, infor­ma­tive treat!” (The News-Gazette, Cham­paign, IL)

“Seashells: More than a Home is a per­fect exam­ple of the remark­able tal­ent Stew­art brings to the research, insights, and writ­ing of sci­ence pic­ture books … The tone of this book makes it a delight for read aloud for even the youngest. The flow­ing main nar­ra­tive pro­vides famil­iar com­par­isons of var­i­ous shell adap­ta­tions to increase sur­vival, and Stew­art’s fig­u­ra­tive lan­guage pro­vides a pat­tern for ear­ly lan­guage devel­op­ment.” (Unpack­ing the Pow­er of Pic­ture Books blog)

“Ide­al for explo­rations in sci­ence, lan­guage arts, and social stud­ies, for whole class and small group explo­rations, and for qui­et re-read­ings by shell-lovers and beach­combers, Seashells: More than a Home has many roles to play in the class­room and beyond.” (The Class­room Book­shelf)

“A fas­ci­nat­ing overview of 13 kinds of shells. Stew­art uses analo­gies from every­day life to help read­ers under­stand how ‘these trea­sures from a secret world beneath the waves’ house clams, snails, oys­ters, and oth­er crea­tures. Sarah S. Bran­nen brings the nar­ra­tive to life with water­col­or scenes of boys and girls explor­ing the seashore… This fun, fact-filled book will inspire up-and-com­ing col­lec­tors while equip­ping them with impor­tant infor­ma­tion.” (Book Page)

“Stew­art crafts per­fect sim­i­les cou­pled with tid­bits of infor­ma­tion to con­vey the impor­tance and won­der of shells. Bran­nen’s illus­tra­tions add the per­fect touch.” (Dylan Teut, Instruc­tor of Lit­er­a­cy and Plum Creek Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Fes­ti­val Direc­tor, Con­cor­dia Uni­ver­si­ty, Seward, NE)

Behind the Book

The idea for this book popped into my mind when I saw Sarah S. Brannen’s gor­geous sketch­es for our book Feath­ers: Not Just for Fly­ing. On the final page, a boy is run­ning along the beach as gulls soar over­head. I imag­ined that boy shift­ing his atten­tion from the birds above him to the seashells scat­tered along the sandy shore, and then head­ing off on a new voy­age of dis­cov­ery. I con­nect­ed with that boy because, in many ways, he was me.

“I’ve been fas­ci­nat­ed by shells since child­hood, when I spent sum­mer vaca­tions beach­comb­ing on Cape Cod, Mass­a­chu­setts. As an adult, I’ve explored beach­es all over the world, from Cos­ta Rica and the Galá­pa­gos Islands to Hawaii, Great Britain, and Kenya. I began my research for this book by look­ing through all my trav­el jour­nals. Then I read every shell book and arti­cle I could find. I scoured the inter­net and spoke to a half-dozen sci­en­tists. After two years of work, I came to a sad con­clu­sion. I couldn’t find enough infor­ma­tion to write the book. I’d have to give up.

“But then, a year lat­er, I went to a seashell exhib­it at the Har­vard Muse­um of Nat­ur­al His­to­ry in Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts, and found a new­ly pub­lished seashell book in the book­store. I couldn’t believe it! Not only did the book have exam­ples I could use, it helped me devel­op a whole new way of search­ing for infor­ma­tion. After just a few more weeks of research, I was final­ly ready to write.”

Seashells More Than a Home

by Melis­sa Stewart

illus by Sarah S. Brannen

Charles­bridge, 2019

for ages 5 to 9

ISBN 978–1‑58089–810‑2 (HC)
ISBN 978–1‑62354–173‑6 (PB)

Pur­chase this book at your local inde­pen­dent book­seller or Amazon.com.

Book Extensions

READ-ALOUD GUIDE
TEACHERS’ GUIDE
FOUND POEM

VOICE CHOICE VIDEO MINI-LESSON

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Feathers Not Just for Flying