The more kids books on mollusks, the better. There isn't much out there now
that is especially inspiring.

One absolutely gorgeous children's book to check out is "Pagoo" by Holling
Clancy Holling. This isn't a new book. I'm no spring chicken and I used to
take this out of the library when I was a tot.

The story follows the life of a hermit crab. The illustrations are to die
for. Interestingly, HCH's wife did much of the artwork, yet is barely
credited. I know this was a different era, but still, it makes you wonder
about their relationship, some freaky ego issues there. But I digress.

It is an old book, done when color printing was primitive, but the Hollings
did very clever illustrations that got around the existing technology. There
are all sorts of marvelous "sidebars," for lack of a better word, on natural
history relevant to the story.

The Hollingses' more famous books include "Paddle to the Sea," "Minn of the
Mississippi", "A Tree in the Trail" and "Seabird". They are all beautifully
illustrated narratives that include fascinating nonfiction information in a
most engaging manner. "Pagoo" is perhaps the least well known, but was always
my favorite because of all the shells and sea creatures. It is definitely
worth a look!