Something's Tugging on My Claw! - (Seatales Sea Animal) by Janice S C Petrie (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Something's Tugging on My Claw! takes readers on a young, blue lobster's adventure to discover the culprit who was tugging on his claw. Once he solves the mystery, the blue lobster is delighted to find that a claw dropped on purpose to escape danger isn't necessarily lost forever.

This is Seatales Publishing Company's third book in its sea animal series. Something's Tugging on My Claw! is an engaging, rhythmic and rhyming sea animal adventure, with brightly colored illustrations and expressive characters to bring the story to life. Although this story is fictitious, all the characters tell an authentic tale of what really happens at the edge of the sea. The repetitive text and rich vocabulary make Something's Tugging on My Claw! a fun read-aloud for families, as well as an entertaining choice for teachers who are studying marine life in their classrooms. Although this book's target audience is preschool through fifth grade, most adults are surprised at how much they learn from reading Something's Tugging on My Claw!, too.

Review Quotes

Recipient of the Mom's Choice Award, honoring excellence.

"Something's Tugging On My Claw! is a colorful, authentic and accurately illustrated story about a young blue lobster's adventure experience trying to discover what creature was tugging on his claw. Told in rhyming narrative verse, the story immediately describes an amazing ability possessed by blue lobster, when threatened or trapped, they can shed or drop their claw. The young blue lobster does this, then hides all night and day until danger is gone. Hungry, and with only one claw to catch food, he swims on. He observes a Jonah crab, wondering if he is the creature who tugged on his claw. The Jonah crab becomes caught in a lobster trap. Next the blue lobster spies a swordfish and observes him hunting an octopus. Escaping by using his tail to swim backwards, the blue lobster encounters a horseshoe crab, wondering, is this the claw tugger? The blue lobster is warned by another darker lobster that the horseshoe crab is not his claw thief. Instead, his claw was tugged by..... a man! The old lobster counsels camouflage and hiding far away from the shoreline, since the blue lobster's color makes him attractive to the curious. Then an amazing transformation happens to the blue lobster: his old shell splits and he crawls out with a brand new shiny blue shell. Fascinating facts about sea creatures and lobsters are offered by little observer fish creatures, such as, "He s molting. Once he s out, he ll eat his old shell while he waits for his new shell to harden." Finally the new blue lobster emerges, now with a second smaller claw, a pincher, to complement his crusher claw. The bigger blue lobster wisely keeps his claws under cover. The final two pages of Something s Tugging On My Claw! lists fascinating details of lobster facts, including a labeled model of a handsome blue lobster. Something s Tugging On My Claw! is appealing to young readers from ages 3-10, and contains many valuable lessons of lobster lore." --Midwestern Book Review, James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief

"A rare blue lobster searches for the creature who took his claw in this brightly hued, educational children's book.
Petrie, a former outreach specialist for the New England Aquarium, definitely knows her sea life. Both educational and sensational, this book should delight readers young and old, especially serving those who have an interest in marine biology. The little fish swimmers are a wonderful addendum to this children's tale, answering many of the questions that could arise from young readers and pushing them to conduct their own research into the lobster's ocean life. Petrie's colorful illustrations are scientific enough to be accurate but not so complex that they become dull. Though the work is intended for younger readers, the prose is lively--many an adult wouldn't mind reading this at bedtime to marine-leaning children again and again.

A captivating work that offers vivid lessons about lobsters (and crabs)."--Kirkus Reviews