It is also useful for teaching kids about the sequencing of months and passage of time. This book would fit wonderfully in a curriculum that includes learning about the ocean and aquatic animals and would help reinforce a lot of terminology. The text includes lots of sea-life vocabulary words, including a glossary of terms at the end of the book.

Hermit crab also demonstrates that when you are kind to others, they will help you out and you can create friendships for life.Īdditionally, this book is a fantastic educational resource. Hermit crab shows children that change can be a positive thing and you can do your best to make the most of the necessary changes in your life. I think A House for Hermit Crab is a wonderful book to read to early elementary school students, especially when they’re going through some sort of major change. Hermit crab agrees to give his home to him and finds a larger, plain shell for himself that he plans to decorate all over again. He then meets a smaller hermit crab who says he would love to live in and take care of hermit crab’s shell. However, by November he realizes that he has grown throughout the year and his house is now getting too small for him again! The sea creatures on his shell have become like family to him and he doesn’t want to leave them. This pattern of interaction repeats every month throughout the year with other sea creatures including sea urchins, coral, lantern fish, star fish, snails, and pebbles until his shell is full and beautiful.

A sea anemone agrees to and he gently picks it up and places it on his shell. The next month he stumbles upon some beautiful sea anemone and asks if one of them would like to live on his shell. He plans to try to spruce it up a bit to make it feel more like a home. He finds a shell but thinks it’s too plain. The story starts with a hermit crab who has outgrown his shell and needs a new one. A House for Hermit Crab is a classic example of how Carle is able to use his distinct, bright collage-style illustrations to entertain children while also educating them. While everybody has read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, there are so many other amazing Eric Carle books out there! I picked Carle’s A House for Hermit Crab for today’s “Traditional Thursday” because it was one of my favorite books growing up. When discussing great children’s literature, Eric Carle is certainly an author who comes to mind.

A house for hermit