Both classroom teachers and vacationing parents will find this little book to be a charmer. Counting from one to twelve, Sue picks up shells—periwinkle, kittens 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 abandoned homes of sea animals—but sometimes the animal is still home! The paperback edition contains a tear-out shell identification card to enhance the hands-on lesson in simple wonders from nature.