Is This a House for Hermit Crab? [Paperback]

Megan Mcdonald (Author), S.D. Schindler (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up

"Across flecked, sand-colored pages crawls Hermit Crab . . . hunting for a new house. . . . This wonderful marriage of words and illustrations is destined to become a well-loved story-hour tale."--School Library Journal, starred review. This Reading Rainbow Feature will air nationwide in October. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-- Across flecked, sand-colored pages crawls Hermit Crab--"scritch-scatch, scritch-scratch"--hunting for a new house. He tries a rock, some driftwood, a plastic pail, and a net. Nothing suits him until, washed to sea by a great wave, he must find a place to hide from his enemies. An empty sea snail's shell provides the perfect home. Schindler's pastel illustrations provide the perfect visualization of the text. Hermit Crab and his enemy, the pricklepine fish, appear so realistic that children will want to reach out and touch them. Prints in the sand left by Crab's moving "houses," foamy waves breaking on the beach, the vastness of the ocean floor and its quiet greenness--all can be felt in Schindler's pictures. The bits of repetition in the text are pared with the visual continuity of sand and sea and the outgrown shell left on the sand as Hermit Crab tries on each prospective home. This wonderful marriage of words and illlustrations is destined to become a well-loved storyhour tale. Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab (Picture Book Studio, 1987)--a bit more sophisticated--could be paired with McDonald's story for a lesson on the habits of this interesting sea creature and its symbiotic relationship with its neighbors. --Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531070417
• ISBN-13: 978-0531070413
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #649,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

10. The first book I ever wrote was about a hermit crab, inspired by a pet I once owned.

9. My favorite color is purple.

8. I love to read mysteries. When I was Judy's age, I read all 56 classic Nancy Drew books . . . in order! Jeepers!

7. I used to collect scabs so I could examine them under the microscope that I got for my 8th birthday.

6. My four sisters and I often made up our own language, which included the words "Hoidi Boidi", "oogey", "retzel crummypuss" and "poony-poony".

5. My favorite TV show is JEOPARDY!

4. To research my Sisters Club book, THE RULE OF THREE, I toured San Francisco in search of the ultimate cupcake. The winner: Sleepless in San Francisco. Think chocolate + coffee.

3. When I was a kid, I fell down a hill from chasing the ice-cream truck and had to get stitches.

2. When I was a librarian, I used to tell stories in sign language. That's how I got the expression "same-same" for Judy.

1. I share a birthday (February 28) with a famous princess, race car driver and gangster, a Rolling Stone, a French tightrope walker, and a winning racehorse named Smarty Jones.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle little hermit crab searches the beach for a new home., July 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Is This a House for Hermit Crab? (Paperback)

Simple, sweet story of a little hermit crab who has outgrown his shell and crawls, "scritch, scratch," along the beach in search of a new home. He tries out a variety of items; including a tin can, which is too noisy and a plastic bucket, which is too big. He becomes entangled in a net and is chased by a pricklepine fish before he finally finds just the right home and "snuggles" in. Beautiful illustrations! My 2-year-old and I both loved this book, and we are now the proud new owners of a pet hermit crab

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book for elementary school students!, November 5, 2002

By 

Kimberly Bondy "micmckim" (Allen Park, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Is This a House for Hermit Crab? (Paperback)

I've used this book with first and third grade students that are studying needs of animals and animal homes. The students love the predictability of the hermit crab's sounds. It opens up the discussion to habitats and why animals need certain characteristics in their homes. Great book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully illustrated book, August 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Is This a House for Hermit Crab? (Paperback)

This is not only an amazingly well-written book, it also has some of the most beautiful illustrations around! Is This a House for Hermit Crab? has a repeating text that kids will soon love to say along with you. McDonald's use of onomatopia is a chance to teach children about figurative language. The repeating words "scritch-scratch" are used to describe the hermit crab crawling along the shore. You can call children's attention to these words by having them scratch a stick arcoss a small strip of sandpaper as these words are read aloud. This book became a read-aloud favorite in my classroom. Another great hermit crab book is Moving Day by Robert Kalan, also available at amazon.com.