NECKS OUT FOR ADVENTURE!

Slipping out of his shell, a courageous little clam finds a whole new world to explore, and also gets to be a hero in this quirky outing from the author of The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone (2003). “Necks out to eat and necks in to hide” has always been the practice of young Edwin’s fellow clams, but when a clamdigger scoops up everyone else, he remembers wondering what it would be like to “flow with the current,” and timorously sets out to search for them. That quest takes him up to dry land, and even, briefly, into the digger’s pot—but he rescues his caged comrades at last by getting them to eject their shells too. In decided contrast to his tried and true theme, Ering wields the brush in manic freestyle to depict clams and their nemesis alike as shapeless, irregular blobs with (if you look closely enough) human features. Ralph Steadman fans, at least, will flock to this. (Picture book. 6-8)