Ten little hermit crabs by Lee Fox and Shane McG

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Allen and Unwin, 2009. 9781741757392.
(Ages 2-5)Recommended. 10 little hermit crabs live on the seashore. One by one they disappear. A seagull swoops one up, a shark gobbles another, one gets hooked on a fisherman's line. In a satisfying conclusion, one little hermit crab alone on the pier finds nine little crabs on the beach each in its distinctive shell.
An appealing counting book, Ten little hermit crabs is a great read aloud because of its rhyming words, alliteration and repetition of every second page with the rhyme:

Hush says the seashore.
Shh, says the sea
How many hermit crabs will there be?

This repetition allows the young listener or reader to think about numbers and predict how many crabs will be left and what will happen to them. There is factual information at the beginning about hermit crabs taking second shells as their homes and each crab has a beautiful different shell.
The glowing yellow, blue and green colours of the illustrations by Shane Mcg make each page a delight to turn over. Children will love the little eyes on stalks and the comical expressions on the faces of the crabs and their predators.
Pat Pledger

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