My Beautiful Broken Shell: Words of Hope to Refresh the Soul [Hardcover]

Carol Hamblet Adams (Author), D. Morgan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2002

Already a bestseller with more than 100,000 copies sold, Adams’ comforting words are now accompanied by D. Morgan’s exquisite watercolors that summon the very sounds and scents of the ocean. Words of wisdom and peaceful images bring encouragement to those buffeted by life’s storms.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (March 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736908706
• ISBN-13: 978-0736908702
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most touching and inspiring books of its kind!!, July 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Beautiful Broken Shell: This Gentle Story Offers a Powerful Message of Hope, as It Compares a Beautiful, Broken Shell to Our Own Lives. a Time (Hardcover)

Carol Adams has touched the mystery and the beauty of the sea and the gathering of the treasures yielded up by the sea to the avid and ardent collector, in a unique and inspiring way, unequalled in my reading!

I turned again to the pages of "My Beautiful Broken Shell" recently, as the seashore has been much on my mind and heart the last few weeks. I will soon be paying a visit to *my* beach and beginning my annual search for the "perfect" shell.

I remembered reading her thoughts about the beauty and meaning of a broken shell she found on the beach one morning, and I was suddenly struck by the rich symbolism contained in her writing.

I *am* the broken shell she found. I *am* the one passed by in search of the perfect. However perfect I began life, such is not the way to describe what I have become!

She speaks of the shells that have been pounded on the shore and survived anyway. She speaks of their continuing beauty despite the broken, tattered edges of what remains of their former beauty.

I think she captures the essence of the "changed life" in her writing. It is easy to see oneself in Ms. Adams' words and to relate events in one's own life to the broken shells of life's beaches.

I find strength and new inspiration in reading this lovely little book with it's simple language and gorgeous illustrations over and over again. I have begun taking it with me everywhere I go.

My appreciation for the book has grown by leaps and bounds with each rereading and I find in it today the same kind of awe and wonder I have felt in the last few days following the crash of John Kennedy Jr.'s plane and the loss of his life as I find in the words of JFK's speech on September 14, 1962, about "The Sea". Classic words from two very different sources.

Thanks, Ms. Adams, for your work!!!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inner Peace, September 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: My Beautiful Broken Shell: This Gentle Story Offers a Powerful Message of Hope, as It Compares a Beautiful, Broken Shell to Our Own Lives. a Time (Hardcover)

After losing my 12 year old son, my soul felt lost. I happened upon this beautiful book in a card store and felt drawn to it. Not only did I feel a connection of being "broken" but my son was a "special needs child" and I saw such an appreciation of seeing the beauty in everything - especially the broken. The original book has long since been given away, as was the second one I purchased. I still long to be able to just pick it up and rekindle my appreciation of where I am.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to be shared!, November 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Beautiful Broken Shell: This Gentle Story Offers a Powerful Message of Hope, as It Compares a Beautiful, Broken Shell to Our Own Lives. a Time (Hardcover)

When I wanted to share this wonderful little book with the women from my church I put together a program. I found about 20 pictures of the sea that I have taken and the same number of shells ( some broken ) I presented it like the books of our chilhood. As I read the book out loud I would, on occassion, say "pass" and they would pass the picture and the shell to the person next to them. That way they were able to visit the sea and feel the book as well as hear it.
I have given many copies away. It is a great source of inspiration. My suggestion would be; share it!