SEYMOUR THE CLAM

A selfish clam learns the hard way that a lack of kindness can have serious consequences in Mendelson’s picture book.

Seymour the clam lives a solitary life under the ocean. One day, a crowd gathers outside his home—fishermen have arrived, and the other sea creatures beg Seymour to shelter them so they can avoid the dreaded fishing nets. But the clam refuses; when he eventually does open his door, he discovers the fish are gone…and he is promptly caught up in a fishing net himself. They are all carted off to shore, where the sea creatures’ loud squabbling prompts the boat’s captain to sell them all at a discount to Morris and Murray, the owners of a Miami seafood store. The animals’ constant fighting scares away all the customers, and when a group comes in looking to buy fish to put in the city’s aquarium, Morris and Murray happily agree to sell them all. Seymour continues complaining, however, so it’s decided he’ll be left behind. The clam is eventually bought by a desperate chef who turns him into “sour” chowder while the rest of the fish enjoy their new lives in the aquarium. Mendelson’s text is written entirely in verse, with a rhyme scheme of AABCC that makes it particularly fun to read aloud—some rhymes prove downright impressive: “But people who live in our municipality / long to see fishes that have personality.” The story starts to sag a bit toward the end, with a few pages feeling like filler (particularly the scenes in which Morris and Murray debate whether to buy the fish and the aquarium representatives arrive). Still, the fishes’ grumbling and some well-placed slapstick comedy help carry the plot through to the end. Bulow’s colorful illustrations, filled with cartoonish anthropomorphic fish and bold colors, perfectly balance the narrative’s surprisingly dark ending.

A thoughtful morality tale wrapped up in colorful pictures and silly rhyming verse that is a joy to read aloud.