Necks Out for Adventure: The True Story of Edwin Wiggleskin

This is a must have for anyone. Tim Erin is an amazing illustrator and always has a great message for the young ones. The art work is unmatched, and this one might be out in the theater someday soon. I can only hope.

This book is full of beautiful images of the ocean and of the shore, with a wonderful story. I love the different look of this book, and I love that the story is so different from what I normally see in the children's section of the bookstore. This book looks and feels like art instead of illustration. Because the main character is a clam, the book opened up an interesting dialogue with my kids about sea life and creatures that they were not very familiar with. The images also take a little deciphering for the young ones, which helps parents interact regarding the story and its interpretation. The villain, a human clam digger, can look anything like the Grinch to a T-Rex depending on the scene (according to my children). The book has a nice message about the importance of risk taking, and how taking chances can often have a profound effect on our lives. The other book by this author, "Frog Belly Rat Bone," is also a favorite in my house.

The author/illustrator of a picture book who isn't afraid to get a little weird is precisely the kind of person you want to have within your reach. Day after day my library purchases and buys familiar titles. Here are two more first day of school books. Oh look, there's another new puppy story. And yup, here's a nice little bully tale. These titles are all useful and they certainly fulfill a need but after a while you wish that you could give the kids a little more. Something a little wild and wacky with an irreverent near-psychotic glee to the whole kerschmozzle. Enter Timothy Basil Ering. Any author can take a walk on the seashore and think, "Clams! I should do a clam story." But hardly anyone would take it a step further and say, "I should do a story where a clam shucks off his own shell and sallies forth into the greater world!!!" Credit Mr. Ering then with going where no clammy taleteller has gone before; Onward. As any wiggleskin will tell you, life is simple. Necks out for tasty food items that float on past. Necks in whenever danger/the unknown/odd looking shadows appear. Everyone follows this pattern, except perhaps Edwin. Where others stick in their necks unquestioningly, Edwin has the foolish gall to ask questions like, "What would happen if we flowed with the current?" The young wiggleskin has the chance to find out, though, when a hungry hornly scratcher with big smelly feet walks into the wiggleskins' world and steals away everyone except for Edwin. Alone and on his own, Edwin shucks off his own shell, follows the current, locates his family, and rescues them with ingenuity and a peculiar way of doing things. I'm not going to confess to you how long it took me to figure out whether or not the wiggleskins in this book were clams, oysters, or mussels. The story itself does not say, nor does any summary you will find online. Really, it wasn't until I flipped to the author bio on the back flap that I read that Mr. Ering wrote this story after clamming with his brother. "I watched a clam disappear into the mud and I realized that clams and people have something in common: both miss out on exciting things when they tuck their necks in and hide." If you think about it then, Mr. Ering and his brother are the nasty hornly scratcher in this book. Huh! Not every author turns himself into a villain, but if it yields books as good as this one, maybe more should try. Some authors look at influences like Dr. Seuss, see what he did with funny funky names, and then try to emulate him in the worst way. They'll fill their books to brimming with long ridiculous names and convoluted, tortured English. Maybe part of what I admired so much about Ering's words in this book was his restraint. Yes, there is the occasional funny phrase here. We have "wiggleskins", a "hornly scratcher", a "red-spotted scrintalberry leaf", "squid-bellied lice", and finally "glimmering golden-eyed silverstones." But by and large Ering keeps his