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Houses from the Sea
Describes some seashells, how shells are made, and how they get their special shapes and colors.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 26, 2019
A beautiful book about two children looking at shells on the beach. The illustrations are beautiful, soft images in yellow, pink and inky blue, such a pleasure to look at. This is a lovely mix between fact and fiction. Wonderful summer reading, these pictures express perfectly the happy, hot, endless days spent at the beach.
Read on openlibrary.
Read on openlibrary.
April 4, 2019
I appreciate the prose that tell this sweet soft story about finding sea shells. Basically, some friends find all these shells, walking along the beach. This is written at the end of the 1950s and I think the oceans have really changed since then. Whereas you were once able to find all these shells on the beaches, now, most beaches are so crowded that its rare to find a whole seashell any more. I guess the time to find something would be after a storm.
Still, this is a nice story to interest kids in seashells. It worked for our kids. They thought the shells were pretty and they asked why they never find shells at the beach when they have been there? There are too many people picking up the shells.
The artwork here is soft and mostly hints at the setting. Sometimes she draws what the seashell reminds her off, but the drawings of the shells themselves are amazing and detailed.
The nephew said this book was a little bit boring. Not a whole lot happens besides people picking up shells. I told him this was more about learning and he said that was boring. I have failed. He gave this 2 stars. The niece seemed to enjoy the slow story and she found a little something more in it. She gave this 3 stars.
Still, this is a nice story to interest kids in seashells. It worked for our kids. They thought the shells were pretty and they asked why they never find shells at the beach when they have been there? There are too many people picking up the shells.
The artwork here is soft and mostly hints at the setting. Sometimes she draws what the seashell reminds her off, but the drawings of the shells themselves are amazing and detailed.
The nephew said this book was a little bit boring. Not a whole lot happens besides people picking up shells. I told him this was more about learning and he said that was boring. I have failed. He gave this 2 stars. The niece seemed to enjoy the slow story and she found a little something more in it. She gave this 3 stars.
April 27, 2022
The first of Goudey’s books that I’ve read but certainly not the last!
Told in story form with oodles of beautiful pastel illustrations, you’ll learn about the many sea shells that are easy enough to spot on the shores of the United States. A great book to read before your excursion to the coast. Or when you’re wishing you were at the coast. Wink.
Ages: 3 - 10
Told in story form with oodles of beautiful pastel illustrations, you’ll learn about the many sea shells that are easy enough to spot on the shores of the United States. A great book to read before your excursion to the coast. Or when you’re wishing you were at the coast. Wink.
Ages: 3 - 10
April 12, 2019
I love the cover of this book. The drawings are nice pastels. The information is easy to understand yet quite interesting.
This covers all types of shells and the animals that inhabit them. I liked it so much I am trying to find more by this author.
When I picked it up from the library, my librarian noticed it was an old book (it’s from the closed stacks). She showed me the signs of history on it. I loved that lesson as much as the book itself!
This covers all types of shells and the animals that inhabit them. I liked it so much I am trying to find more by this author.
When I picked it up from the library, my librarian noticed it was an old book (it’s from the closed stacks). She showed me the signs of history on it. I loved that lesson as much as the book itself!
May 14, 2018
I was given this vintage book for Mother's Day. It's a story written around shells on the beach. Lovely illustrations and explanations. A kind of seashell primer.
January 10, 2013
What a wonderful book. With verse a bit like Mary Oliver poetry for children and the simple pencil drawings, we go along on a seashore journey of collecting all kinds of seashells - always brought to the shore by the retreat and return of the waves. But it isn't just a recounting of the shells, but a tactile description and an imagining of what each shell evoked. The drawings and verse will make this a very enjoyable for young readers. Something tells me this isn't really a 5-star book, but I just loved it.
October 4, 2017
This is a very well-written non-fiction title about the shells one can find on the beach. The rich, poetic language might lose some kids, but others will delight in the artistic presentation of scientific information. The light colors and brushstrokes of the illustrations create a very wet atmosphere that evokes the seaside in a very visceral way. My favorite page is the one with the wentletraps, where a faint staircase appears behind the fish.
June 20, 2019
Though it got a little long, I really enjoyed this beautiful book about shells and a day at the beach. I loved the author's note at the beginning talking about collecting shells and the explanation of how shells are made at the end. These would be easy to skip, but they were written to be understandable and engaging to a child.
November 30, 2017
• 1960 Caldecott Honor Book •
Very sweet book about a brother and sister gathering shells on the beach! I thought this was really interesting and informative. I loved looking for seashells when I was little but I could never remember their names. I love how the brother and sister compared the shells to things that they looked like - the wedge shells look like butterflies, the cockles look like heart shaped houses, the scallop shells like ladies’ fans… My favorite is the slipper shells, because I’ve seen them so many times and I didn’t realize they were called that and they really do look like slippers!
Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted
Very sweet book about a brother and sister gathering shells on the beach! I thought this was really interesting and informative. I loved looking for seashells when I was little but I could never remember their names. I love how the brother and sister compared the shells to things that they looked like - the wedge shells look like butterflies, the cockles look like heart shaped houses, the scallop shells like ladies’ fans… My favorite is the slipper shells, because I’ve seen them so many times and I didn’t realize they were called that and they really do look like slippers!
Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted
May 18, 2012
A brother and sister gather all types of sea shells on the beach. A 2 page spread with pictures and labels for all the shells they found follows the story along with a note about how shells are made. Illustrations look like watercolor or pastels. Must read/see!
March 19, 2012
Very nice seashell book, and an educational one to boot. My 9 year-old loved it, and I did too. Simple, yet beautiful pictures of seashells.
November 21, 2017
My shells, let me show you them.
This is a very wordy prose poetry book about shells. I know that as a child, I used to go to the beach and enjoy collecting shells, but I did not know anywhere near this much about them. This little boy's first name should be "Exposition." They collect a bunch of shells. It talks about the different colors of them, and the different names for all the shells. There's a slightly racist picture of some Chinese people, and another slightly racist picture of a Native American.
One of the unrealistic things about this book is that every single shell that the children find, with the exception of of a hermit crab that's walking by, is empty. And undamaged. I know as a child I picked up quite a few shells that had creatures living in them, unknown to me, killing the animal in the process. They start to smell after a while.
These kids are collecting shells. The illustrations are pretty. They're kind of pastel, but they remind me of art that was done before the Renaissance. There's no concept of a vanishing point or perspective in the majority of the images. The characters are very flat, with not enough shading. Making them look almost like Egyptian tomb paintings. A strange stylistic choice.
"We found this kind of shell. Then we found this other kind of shell. Then we found this other kind of shell. This shell kind of looks like X." "Scallops look like ladies' fans." It's super boring and meandering. Shells are cool, but these kids are basically obsessed with them. One of the last pages says, "When friends come in/to play on rainy days/we show them all our shells./We tell their names,/just where we found them,/and all about the day/the waves ran up to meet us." These children must be the most boring people to hang out with! "You want to look at my shells again??" No, no I don't want to look at your dang shells! Don't they like, play? Like normal children? "Shells... shells... would you like to look at my shells?"
There's an author's note at the beginning, and at the end there's a bunch of text on how shells are made. This book can't make up its mind whether it wants to be poetic or complete nonfiction, and as a result it fails at doing either.
Message: Shells are the most amazing things ever.
For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
This is a very wordy prose poetry book about shells. I know that as a child, I used to go to the beach and enjoy collecting shells, but I did not know anywhere near this much about them. This little boy's first name should be "Exposition." They collect a bunch of shells. It talks about the different colors of them, and the different names for all the shells. There's a slightly racist picture of some Chinese people, and another slightly racist picture of a Native American.
One of the unrealistic things about this book is that every single shell that the children find, with the exception of of a hermit crab that's walking by, is empty. And undamaged. I know as a child I picked up quite a few shells that had creatures living in them, unknown to me, killing the animal in the process. They start to smell after a while.
These kids are collecting shells. The illustrations are pretty. They're kind of pastel, but they remind me of art that was done before the Renaissance. There's no concept of a vanishing point or perspective in the majority of the images. The characters are very flat, with not enough shading. Making them look almost like Egyptian tomb paintings. A strange stylistic choice.
"We found this kind of shell. Then we found this other kind of shell. Then we found this other kind of shell. This shell kind of looks like X." "Scallops look like ladies' fans." It's super boring and meandering. Shells are cool, but these kids are basically obsessed with them. One of the last pages says, "When friends come in/to play on rainy days/we show them all our shells./We tell their names,/just where we found them,/and all about the day/the waves ran up to meet us." These children must be the most boring people to hang out with! "You want to look at my shells again??" No, no I don't want to look at your dang shells! Don't they like, play? Like normal children? "Shells... shells... would you like to look at my shells?"
There's an author's note at the beginning, and at the end there's a bunch of text on how shells are made. This book can't make up its mind whether it wants to be poetic or complete nonfiction, and as a result it fails at doing either.
Message: Shells are the most amazing things ever.
For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
July 31, 2022
Houses from the Sea by Alice E. Goudey, Illustrator - Adrienne Adams- Hindi language translation by Arvind Gupta- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the story of a brother and sister who are gathering sea shells at the beach in poem form. They collect the sea shells and find their names. Angel wings, Wedge shell, Slipper shells, Top shell, Moon shell, Turret shell, Cockle shell, Clam Shell, Scallop, Cowrie, Keyhole limpet, Wentletrap, Periwinkle, Jingle shell etc. The book narrates how shells are formed in sea. It is an interesting and informative. I love how the brother and sister compared the shells to things that they looked like - the wedge shells look like butterflies, the cockles look like heart shaped houses, the scallop shells like ladies’ fans, slipper shells. Coloured illustrations help the reader in relating to the story. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.
November 7, 2021
Poetry
K-3rd grade reading level
I loved the free verse styling of this book, but it made it hard to categorize, because it could also be nonfiction! That is, it could be nonfiction couched in a sweeet, engaging story about a day on the beach. The illustrations were gorgeous as well, so soft and delicate. This would be a wonderful book to read to children before a day on the beach, so they could see how many of these shells they could find. Or it could be read as part of a science lesson at school. Beyond that, though, I think children would enjoy reading it simply for entertainment, as well.
K-3rd grade reading level
I loved the free verse styling of this book, but it made it hard to categorize, because it could also be nonfiction! That is, it could be nonfiction couched in a sweeet, engaging story about a day on the beach. The illustrations were gorgeous as well, so soft and delicate. This would be a wonderful book to read to children before a day on the beach, so they could see how many of these shells they could find. Or it could be read as part of a science lesson at school. Beyond that, though, I think children would enjoy reading it simply for entertainment, as well.
January 15, 2023
Houses from the Sea (1959) by Alice E. Goudey and illustrated by Adrienne Adams is a very educational picture book about two children who go to the beach one day and discover all kinds of sea shells. The book is very insightful without being overly scientific. The illustrations detail the different kinds of shells and what they resemble and what kinds of sea creatures use them. I really enjoyed this book and I think this could be a great tool for science classes in learning about the ocean an animals, etc., or for shell collecting. It goes into how shells are made, too, which was fascinating. Very well done. My rating - 4/5
May 3, 2023
A brother and sister spend the day finding shells of various shapes and explain what types there are and give some history behind them. At the end, there is a short description on how shells are made. This is a beautifully illustrated book but the story is a bit boring. However, I did learn some things about shells.
August 8, 2021
Lovely, but old-fashioned... I find the mix of a narrative and a field guide disconcerting & have since I was young (the book is slightly older than I am). At this point I feel only envy, as even when I lived on the shore I never found more than a few varieties at a time.
April 22, 2022
Learn about sea shells and types.
I collected shells 50 years before. I wish I had this overview then.
I do collect small white cowries (சோழி). I like the sound they make when you wave through a heap of cowries.
I collected shells 50 years before. I wish I had this overview then.
I do collect small white cowries (சோழி). I like the sound they make when you wave through a heap of cowries.
February 7, 2023
Wonderful book about hunting shells on the shore. Illustrates and names the different types of shells in beautiful illustrations.
August 22, 2024
Two children gather seashells while the text provides information about the different types of shells they find. Illustrations are only okay.
November 11, 2023
A boy and his sister go along the beach looking at shells. We used to collect shells on the beach when I was a kid, so I related to that. I liked the hermit crab. The artwork and story were all right.
March 8, 2011
Pretty illustrations Caldecott Honor 1960. Two children find shells at the beach. The story provides the name for each shell they find and a little explanation about its name.
June 21, 2011
Caldecott honor
November 4, 2013
1960 Caldecott Honor
July 3, 2013
Lovely book for those interested in collecting seashells.
July 10, 2013
1960 Caldecott Honor
I really, really enjoyed these illustrations and found it to be a great informational book in a story layout. Very beautiful.
I really, really enjoyed these illustrations and found it to be a great informational book in a story layout. Very beautiful.
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July 13, 2017This (surprising, to me) kept my almost-4-year-old enthralled. I can't wait to take a trip to a beach with him.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews