I love this series and I have always loved shells so this might be my favorite book by this team. Great reference book. Clever layout. In the front endpapers a bunch of shells are shown. Inside they are part of the contents and the back endpapers have the same shells that are shown in the front but this time they are labeled with their names. This picture book is packed with information. This isn’t a story book. It’s a reference book, but it is interesting and it’s not just a nature book but also addresses art, history, cultural issues. Children who are fascinated by shells/the natural world will probably love this book. Lovely illustrations, some whimsy and playfulness but mostly facts. This is one I’d love to own and to be able to share with children. 4-2/3 stars ( )

Author Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrator Sylvia Long, a team which has produced a number of beautiful works of picture book natural history, return in this seventh collaboration, this time turning their attention to those marvelous calcium carbonate homes known as shells. As in the earlier titles from this duo, there is a dual narrative structure here, with a simple, poetic text describing what shells are—"A shell is cozy... A shell is showy. A shell is hatched and protective"—accompanied by a more detailed look at specific topics such as the various forms shells take, the life cycle of the creatures which live in shells, all the places they can be found, and so much more...

Pairing an informative and engaging text with beautiful illustrations, A Shell Is Cozy is another triumph from this pair, and is a book I would heartily recommend to all young animal and nature lovers. As always, I loved Sylvia Long's use of color and form, in her detailed ink and watercolor artwork. The decorative "endpapers"—not actually in the place of the endpapers, so they won't be obscured by library stickers or taped-down dust-jackets—show a gorgeous array of shells, unlabeled at the front and labeled at the rear. I also appreciated the fact that author Dianna Hutts Aston included mention of how humans use shells, once their original inhabitants are no longer in them, and that she mentioned the Watts Towers in Los Angeles, constructed out of (amongst other things) shells. I know she wrote an earlier picture book on this subject, Dream Something Big: The Story of the Watts Towers, and I hope to track that down next, of her titles. Published last year (2023), this one is the last of these "Nature Books" from Aston and Long I had yet to read, and I am glad to have completed the set. That being said, I certainly hope more such titles will be forthcoming! Examining the natural world through these themed picture books is both fun and educational. ( )