Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Sally and the Limpet
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 8
Candlewick, 2002 ISBN: 978-0763617158
Sally is a little girl who is enjoying a quiet time paddling in and exploring a rock pool at the seaside. It is in this pool that she finds a very pretty limpet shell. The only problem with the shell is that it is still very much occupied by a limpet. When Sally forces the limpet off the rock it lives on it sticks very firmly to her finger. No matter what Sally, or her dad, or her brother, or a doctor, does, the limpet will not let go of her finger. It is very clear that all these people have no idea how to get the limpet off Sally’s finger and the author conveys, very subtly, how utterly useless their efforts are. It is only Sally who has the sense to see what the solution to the problem is, and it is she who does in fact get the limpet to let her go. Not only that, but she makes sure she takes care of the limpet once it is free which makes us like and admire her all the more.
This is a delightful case of a child being able to solve a problem all by herself, even when the grownups have failed to do so. The cheerful ink and watercolor illustrations found throughout the book convey both the beauty of the seaside and the large, bumbling ineptness of the grownups.
