Island Eyes: The Adventures of a Shell

by Laney Lee, Ken Dowd (Illustrator)

A shell tells of its life as host to a hermit crab, as the prize piece in an old lady's shell collection, and as, in a new form, it returns to the sea

Genres: Nature, Childrens

111 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Laney Lee was raised in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. Early in his working career, he was program director and production manager for a Missouri television station. He later joined an advertising agency as a writer / producer, and went on to become its creative director and executive vice-president. In 1973, he formed his own agency, Vinyard & Lee Advertising.
Though St. Louis was always home base, for several years he spent as much time as possible on the island of Captiva, off the west coast of Florida, which is the setting for his book Island Eyes.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun way to introduce children to shells! Even if a child has never walked a beach, they will still be able to appreciate the story with its salty talk. If I were reading this aloud, I'd skip the first part, "Follow Me."

[Esther Bouchillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting little book following the life of a shell. There are some "stressful" moments but overall not too intense.
- sea snail gets eaten early in book but not a high emotion scene
- meets and becomes shell for hermit crab, they go on adventures together
- hermit crab grows too big for shell and they have to say goodbye but again not very high emotion. It is later mentioned that the shell misses the crab but is also happy in new life
- shell is found by a lady but later stolen *theft scene and chase is most intense part of the book
- fall back into water and meet hermit crab again briefly
- get stuck in storm and eventually crash and break on storm turning into part of sand
- happy ending happy to be a part of children building a sand castle

[Bekky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a childhood favorite and I was happy to find that it's held up after all these years. The story is simple but beautiful. This is a book best enjoyed read aloud at the bedside of a child.

[Bryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child, and just recently remembered it and wanted to read it again. Luckily, I have a fantastic friend who managed to find it from the few crumbs of plot I could remember. :)



This book is told from the point of view of a conch shell. It's born in the mud, with a tiny animal inside it. The shell grows, as the animal grows with it - until one day, they come up against a larger creature in a giant tulip shell that fights and kills their animal.

The shell is alone for a while until it comes across Maggie, a hermit crab, who moves in and becomes friends. She names the shell Matey. Maggie sings and goes on adventures, and together they outwit an octopus and a large stone crab. Unfortunately, Maggie grows too big and has to move on to a larger shell. But she helps Matey onto the shore after a storm so that they will be discovered by shell collectors.

Mrs. Blue, an avid shell collector, comes across Matey and takes the shell back to her home to clean and polish. Matey finds out that they are a large King's Conch shell, and wins Best Shell at a local fair. But all the notoriety brings the attention of thieves, and an octopus-like man sneaks into Mrs. Blue's home to steal the shell. He almost gets away with it, running to his boat and sailing away, but he gets caught between Mrs. Blue's family and the coast guard, and tosses the shell overboard where it sinks to the bottom of the sea.

Matey has a brief reunion with Maggie, before a storm starts brewing. Maggie's claws are full keeping herself safe from the storm, and she can't help Matey. Matey is carried away with the waves, and crashes to the shore, shattering into zillion pieces. But hope is not lost - Matey's pieces are now part of the sand, which some children form into a sandcastle. The King has finally found his castle. As the tide comes in, Matey is washed grain by grain back out to sea, and to whatever adventures await.

There are several beautiful illustrations, and even as an adult I enjoyed the story and the colorful characters the shell meets. Highly recommend.

[Kat Pisano · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite children's books about the journey of a shell. Something that we would normally see as disposable

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was very small and thought it would be fun to reread. It is very cute (the illustrations are great) though more simplistic than I remember it being. I still love the ending.