The Boy Who Lived in a Shell: Snippets for Wandering Minds

This dreamy collection by Himmelman (Albert Hopper, Science Hero) starts with a boy named Ivo floating out to sea in a large shell: “He was scared at first. But he grew to love it so.” Ivo passes the time by writing stories (“Bombo the giant baby was too big for his cradle,” one opens). Tight line drawings with a buoyant feel bring Ivo’s stories to life, as when depicting a miserable Bombo perched on top of the earth. Bombo gladdens once he rotates toward the sun: “It was bigger than he was!” Ivo ideates more similarly larger-than-life feeling characters before looping back to revisit them, allowing the initially fragmented stories to take shape. What is Bombo doing now? He’s outgrown the sun and is floating through space. The volume’s most engaging episodes star dogs Toby and Pip, who—due to a brief separation by their owners—yearn to reunite. Closing sentences in each of these installments, addressed directly to readers (“Sometimes stories make you want to know what happens next”), pose sly questions about storytelling and invite the audience in on the action. Human character skin tones match the hue of the page. Ages 7–10. (Mar.)