Both classroom teachers and vacationing parents will find this little book to be a charmer. Counting from one to twelve (one to ten in the Board Book edition), Sue picks up shells-periwinkle, kitten’s paw, scallop-and carefully adds them to her bucket as a gift for Grandma. She and her friend identify the shells, and when they discover one that still has the mollusk living inside they put it back in the water-learning that shells are actually the (usually) abandoned homes of sea animals. The paperback edition contains a tear-out shell identification card to enhance the hands-on lesson in nature’s simple wonders.