What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Pagoo
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Early to mid 1970s picture book about a hermit crab. [s]
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I have a vague recollection of a children's book about a hermit crab, but this would have been back in the 1960's. I can't recall the title, but I remember the crab's name was Pagu. Does that ring any bells?
Thanks, Michael; this looks promising, from the little I can see of it on Amazon. I've got a copy on order from the library so I'll see if it's the one.
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The Internet Archive copy came through -- it was Pagoo, although, as usual, I had misremembered some significant details.
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What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Pagoo (other topics)Pagoo (other topics)
Pagoo (other topics)
A House for Hermit Crab (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Holling Clancy Holling (other topics)Jane Castellanos (other topics)
It was about a hermit crab. If I remember correctly (which I may not; it's been a long since I was in elementary school) it started when he was quite young, like in the larval or plankton stage. After that, the MC (or should I say HC?) struggles to find an initial shell, and then successively larger shells as he gradually grows out of them.
What I remember most about the book was that it had beautiful, rich, colorful illustrations that would fill the entire page in some places. While it was a picture book, it had a decent amount of text; it wasn't something you could read in five minutes.
It is not "A Shell for Sam" by Jane Castellanos. That seems to take place over a short period (a day or so); mine has the hermit crab living and growing for some time. Also the illustrations are wrong.
I don't believe it's A House for Hermit Crab either. It doesn't have the rich, colorful illustrations I remember (like an oil painting, or a tapestry) and it doesn't start early enough in the HC's life, or cover enough time.
The first shell the HC had was very smooth and shiny. He was disappointed, at first, when he was looking for a larger shell and could only find one covered with barnacles and sea anemones (he thought of one as a "freeloader") but he grew to enjoy the camoflage/company, and later looked for shells with such accoutrements, or even placed them on the shells himself. While this also happened in A House for Hermit Crab it happened in that book right away; in my book, it was something the HC learned over time.