SHELL QUEST

A shell quest gives new meaning to the term diverse ecosystem in this graphic-novel early reader.

Backyards can seem really big, especially if you are a slug, and life can be lonely when you are all by yourself. That’s why, when this story’s main character, an unnamed slug, hears rustling in the garden and spots snails nearby, its eyes light up. But there is a problem. The slug doesn’t have a shell like every snail should. When the snails offer to let the slug play with them provided it gets a shell, the slug scoots off searching for a shell—evidently the key to finding friends and leaving loneliness behind. Unfortunately, the shell substitutes it finds (an acorn cap, a thimble, and an outgrown snail shell) all fail in some fashion. With tears that blend into the raindrops, the slug worries that it will never fit in anywhere and that it will be alone forever. At least the slug has made one friend, a kind snail that, “shell or no shell,” has the slug’s back. This is a good thing since a flash flood quickly “whoosh[es]” them both away—to a welcoming and diverse hollow-log community. Simple, earth-toned backgrounds in most panels spotlight critters with expressive ping-pong–ball eyestalks that lend them great personality. Most pages are laid out in simple two-by-three–panel grids, facilitating clarity for beginning comics readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet and surprising search for self, friendship, and acceptance.