Shells... and what they hide inside by Helen Scales, illustrated by Sonia Pulido

 This is a board book, scaled down version of Scales' What a shell can tell from 2022. Simple text, giving basic information about shells, fills the board pages and a myriad of flaps can be pulled down to view shells and their interiors.

Readers will see a beach scene, with shells beneath rocks, garden scene where they can find hiding snails, and a fun variety of shells and the creatures who live in them. The penultimate page gives an option to open "glass drawers" and describe the different shells pictured both on and under the flap. The final page shows a beach scene with shells to investigate - some with creatures inside, some empty.

The text makes an effort to be both accurate and accessible to young children. One page asks readers to imagine what shells feel like, picturing a spiky murex shell, rough oyster shell, etc. There are no actual textures on the page, which is a little disconcerting though. Two lift-the-flaps explain why shells have their particular texture.

One of the best spreads shows a variety of shells on lift the flaps that kids can look at and identify the mollusk, if any, inside. The art is interesting and detailed, but general enough for a young board book audience.

The pages themselves are sturdy, but the flaps are the thickness of cardstock or very thin cardboard and there are so many  it would be difficult to reinforce them all. At least one spread has all of them opening up, instead of pulling down, and I flipped the book upside down to pre-open those.

Verdict: If you have a lift-the-flap or pop-up collection, or if you include these types of books in kits, as I do, this is a great addition to those collections. I would find it difficult to recommend for a general board book collection, especially as it's priced like a picture book, not a board book.

ISBN: 9781838667887; Published April 2024 by Phaidon; Review copy provided by publisher