Clem and Crab

In her solo debut, Lumbers gently yet effectively exposes a contemporary environmental crisis through a concerned girl’s perspective. At the seashore, while Clem combs the tide pools for “treasures that washed ashore, but also the things that other people had left behind,” she is pleasantly distracted by a crab that seems to watch her, but then disappears. Sorting the items she’s collected into “one pile to put back, the other to be recycled,” Clem finds the crab tangled in a plastic bag and sets it free. In the tale’s only credibility strain, she notices on the bus home that the crab has crawled into her pant hem. Before finally returning it to the sea, she brings her crustacean friend to school, where she tells her classmates about the rescue and shows them a collage she made with the plastic waste she retrieved. Though the story’s urgent message is modern, Lumbers’s images of the girl and her peers are timeless, evoking simplicity and warmth and resulting in a rewarding fusion. Ages 4–9. [em](Mar.) [/em]