A House for Hermit Crab

Picture Book
Title: A House for Hermit Crab
Author: Eric Carle
Age Level: 4+
Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary
A House for Hermit Crab is a wonderfully written story with beautiful illustrations about a hermit crab who is encountering change in his life.  He is growing to big for his shell so he needs to find a new one.  When he finds a new shell he also picks up a few new friends on his year long adventure through the bottom of the ocean.

Opinion
I remember growing up reading a lot of Eric Carle books and as I am reading them now I still find them to be very enjoyable books that send great messages to the reader.  I thought that the book, A House for Hermit Crab, was very well written and had eye-catching illustrations that are appealing to any reader.  The illustrations were done in a collage style with vibrant colors and unique design that I think is a trademark for many of Eric Carle's books. I also liked how the dialogue was somewhat repetitive in the sense that the crab's course of action for each month was relatively similar to the last, just different sea creatures being found.  I think that when children start reading, repetitiveness in the text is helpful for them. This is not to say that I like books that are  completely repetitive from page to page but the way Eric Carle does it works well in this picture book.

I would definitly use this book in my class because the message being portrayed is one that any child could relate to.  The message being read is that change is not frightening and that it is a part of growing up.  This book could be useful to help students who are adjusting to a new situation or are struggling with the change that comes along with getting older.  An activity I could do with this book would be a writing activity where I have each student write about a time where they had to deal with change in their lives and how they felt during this situation, for example, transition from grade to grade, house to house, or school to school.  I would use this book in a unit about animals also because there is great information about different sea animals and life under the ocean within this book that children could learn from.