Stories in a Seashell

They say that if you hold a seashell to your ear, you will hear the sea. Is it true? A child who walks on the beach tries it out . . . and discovers a whole world inside. Capture children's imaginations with a tale of mermaids, pirates, submarines, whales, and other magical sights and sounds of the sea. StarBerry Books, an imprint of Kane Press, is a library full of diverse and imaginative children's books created by authors and artists from all over the globe. Read Your Way Around the World! -- "Journal"

Review :
If you can hear the sea in a seashell, maybe there's a mermaid or a submarine in there, too, suggests Nogués Otero in this Spanish import. Young Max, with his bucket and shovel, is kicking around on the beach. He finds a conch shell and puts it up to his ear to 'see if it was true that one could hear the sea inside.' In Cabestany's soft artwork of pencil and paint, a dreamy mood takes over the proceedings. Sitting on the beach, Max listens very carefully and experiences more than just the sound of the surf. He hears/imagines a pirate ship and a castaway holding a coconut head. There is also a mermaid in there, who startles an old man and his cabin boy (who are sailing in a folded-paper boat). Max can hear the calls of puffins and the flapping of their wings. The sea pulling at the stones on the shore in the backwash 'made a little noise, like tickling.' A whale 'spit gallons and gallons of steam, ' though that 'steam' looks a lot like fish. Max picks up the presence of 'millions of silent jellyfish'--it's his imagination, after all--and the whale sings its song, which alerts a submarine captain, who ups periscope to spy . . . a boy on the beach. Nogués Otero's imagination makes a few odd turns, but since when are dreams beholden to the everyday? Max is depicted with pale skin and hair. A circular figment that should work well as a lullaby.--Kirkus Reviews -- "Journal" The fantastical becomes possible in this dreamscape of one young boy's imagination. When Max finds a conch shell near the seashore, he muses if it's 'true that one could hear the sea inside.' What follows are the stories Max envisions when he listens to the waves and wind rushing between the shell and his ear. In soft, muted pencil and paint illustrations, Max hears and sees a pirate ship and a shipwrecked sailor rescued by a mermaid. Storms rage while puffins fly, gazing down on a lone poet who watches an enormous whale blot out the sun. Cabestany's magical artwork reinforces the whimsical tone of text throughout. Instead of simply blocking the sun from the poet, the whale bites into it playfully between its teeth as it leaps out from a foamy spray of rosy-hued water. The illustrations expand the fantasy inherent in Max's visions and play on the creativity within his stories. The sounds in Max's shell carry him to the depths of the ocean where a submarine captain looks through his periscope to see a boy holding a shell against his ear. The wonder of this story rests in its connection to nature and that exquisite moment when a child discovers the beauty in the world around him. VERDICT A sweet selection for imaginative children who marvel about nature and delight in daydreaming.--School Library Journal -- "Journal"