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Searching... McMinnville Public Library | McDonald | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
When Hermit Crab outgrows his old house, he ventures out to find a new one.
Author Notes
Megan McDonald was born February 28, 1959, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She grew up in the 1960s the youngest of five girls - which later became the inspiration of the Sister's Club. She attended Oberlin College and received a B.A. in English, then she went on to receive a Library Science degree at Pittsburgh University in 1986. Before becoming a full-time writer, McDonald had a variety of jobs working in libraries, bookstores, museums, and even as a park ranger.She was children's librarian, working at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Minneapolis Public Library and Adams Memorial Library in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. She has received various awards for her storytelling including a Judy Blume Contemporary Fiction Award, a Children's Choice Book award, and a Keystone State Award among others. McDonald has also written many picture books for younger children and continues to write. Her most recent work was the "Julie Albright" series of books for the American public. She currently resides in Sebastopol, California with her husband and pets.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Hermit Crab's search for a new home is told simply and effectively, with a wonderfully alliterative, rhythmic refrain. The textured pictures are realistic yet spare; the text has movement, drama, and a comforting conclusion. Review 3/90. From HORN BOOK 1990, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Hermit Crab, grown too big for the house on his back, explores his habitat as he searches for a new one--and tries several that are unsuitable before finding one that is just right. The quest, in a nicely cadenced style with appealing repetitions, is full of child appeal; Schindler's lovely illustrations, rendered in pastels on a sand-colored ground, precisely depict the shoreline in all its pleasing variety. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 3-6. In this inviting picture book, a hermit crab, having outgrown his old shell, seeks a new home. After walking along the shore and trying a rock ("too big"), a tin can ("too noisy"), a plastic pail ("too deep"), and so forth, he is swept into the ocean. Fleeing the predator pricklepine fish, he stumbles into an abandoned shell--his new home. Schindler, who created exquisite ink drawings for Ursula LeGuin's Catwings books, here turns to pastels on brown paper for close-ups of Hermit Crab's adventures. The use of lighter chalks on the backgrounds suits the seaside locale with its reflected light and varied textures. Without overdramatizing or anthropomorphizing, Schindler moves the story across broad, horizontal, double-page spreads. Mc~Donald, a children's librarian, shows a fundamental understanding of her audience. The plot has inevitability; the simple, cadenced text hums along; and best of all, the writer knows when to ask questions to involve the children and when to stop. A natural for story times, this picture book makes reading aloud a pleasure. ~--Carolyn Phelan