I am going absolutely feral over this book
I want to eat it
I want to read it to everyone
I need everyone to read it
It is, on the one hand, a little poem describing what a snail is and how it lives. On the other hand, it is a primer on how one can pretend to be a snail. Together, it is some Extremely Capital A Art. To top it off, the art is delectable, a lush garden of moist earth and growing foods and small creatures and a child shrinking smaller and smaller under the snail's spell, hunched over, gliding along, reaching with feelers. It's a feast to look at, it's a feast to read, it's a feast to read out loud. It truly is a spell, captivating and marvelous.
it starts,
Imagine
you are soft
and have no bones
inside you.
Imagine
you are grey,
the color of smoke.
And it only goes up[1] from there. I am under the snail's spell. You should be too. You are, presumably, on the internet currently: glide over to your local library's page, open their catalog, and put this on hold. It's by Joanne Ryder and illustrated by Lynne Cherry and it will make your life richer and more wonderful.
or,,, down,,, ↩︎