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Sharing a Shell

Book
Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson, and Lydia Monks

As seen:

By Julia Donaldson, and and, Lydia Monks

avg rating

68 reviews

When Crab finds a new shell, he doesn’t want to share it with anyone – especially not a blobby purple anemone and a tickly bristleworm. But life in the rock pool proves tougher than Crab thinks and he soon finds he needs his new housemates.

Available as a chunky board book that’s perfect for younger readers, Sharing a Shell is a charming underwater tale of friendship and fun from the stellar picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, creators of What the Ladybird Heard. With brilliant rhythmic verse, bright and distinctive illustrations and glitter on every page, this is a firm favourite with children and parents alike.

Enjoy all the stories from Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks: Sharing a Shell, The Princess and the Wizard, The Rhyming Rabbit, The Singing Mermaid, Sugarlump and the Unicorn, Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox, What the Ladybird Heard, What the Ladybird Heard Next and What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday.

Reviews

22 Jul 2025

A tale of friendship and sharing. I would recommend this for young readers. Involves different sea creatures and children often giggle when we encounter the word anemone.

30 Jun 2024

I like the anemone the best because it looks very funny.
it is a nice book so I would recommend it to a friend.
i really l like the page with the big fish because it looked super suprised when it got stung.

28 Aug 2023

It was great

27 Aug 2023

The book is about an anemone, a crab and a bristle worm sharing a shell. I liked the bristle worm because he is really tidy. I like sharing and that is why I will recommend it to everyone.

28 Jul 2023

I would recommend this book because it's about sharing. A good book to read. Colourful

24 Jul 2023

The best bit is when the anemone stings the fish on the nose and then the fish swims away!

01 Sep 2022

I liked that they were kind and nice to each other at the end.

28 Jul 2022

It is a great book because they share lots of shells and they are friends together and they have a nice time together. I really loved the book.

21 Jul 2022

Sharing means caring. You never lonely when you have friends.

17 Jul 2022

Yes

21 Jan 2022

I liked how all the animals were being kind. I liked all of the sparkles.

03 Sep 2021

I love the hermit crab and the bristle worm doing all the housework! I would definitely recommend this book and I love all the glitter on the pages.

16 Aug 2021

I would recommend it.

I like it when they get together again.

14 Aug 2021

I thought it was great.
My favourite character was the anemone because it is pink and purple. This book has emotions in it, like when they were cross with each other because they grew out of their shell.
I would recommend this book to children who like the beach.

12 Aug 2021

I liked this book because it’s about a crab who find a shell and has to share it with two other creatures a sea anemone and a bristle worm.

I like the way the story rhymes because then I can put it into a song when I’m reading it. I didn’t like that the book didn’t have much writing

11 Aug 2021

It was interesting and sharing . I like everyone. I would recommend this book to my friends

09 Aug 2021

They met some fish and one was an anemone and stung a fish.

My favourite character was the crab

The best part of the story was when they shared their new shell at the end

15 Dec 2020

I like to read this book because it’s about learning to share. Sharing is caring.

28 Sep 2020

I read this book to my little brother and we both liked the rhyming in it .I would recommend this book for young bookworms .

20 Sep 2020

It's really good because the crab is being really nice letting everyone share his shell. The bristle worm found a new shell they could go in as they grew.

17 Sep 2020

I liked it when they all found a new shell and lived together and became friends again.

06 Sep 2020

It was good

06 Sep 2020

This is a great non fiction book, i love the little cleankng brush he is my favorate character

03 Sep 2020

I like it when the crab and anemone become friends again.

02 Sep 2020

Nice bright and sparkly book

02 Sep 2020

The story tell us about sharing and friendship.I enjoy it.it is a fiction story.I interest this book because the characters sharing shell to each other.Small kids can read this book.

02 Sep 2020

Way too easy for me but nice glittery pages nice story about being kind.

01 Sep 2020

The bristleworm was the best character. The anemone was good because it could sting things. Yes I would recommend people read this book.

30 Aug 2020

I was really really good book because it was really really good and funy. The crab and the bristleworm and the anemone shared a shell but the anemone and bristleworm got very heavy for the crab and he said “you’re getting too heavy and I don’t like being your taxi and I think you should find a new home for yourselves.”

28 Aug 2020

The friends have a shell that gets to big and they have a falling out but they find a new shell. I like this story.

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