Get tongue-tied with 25 entertaining tongue twisters, paired with wacky and witty illustrations by Seymour Chwast. Chwast brings these fun verbal gymnastics to life with vibrant color and humor. Readers will delight in Chwast’s distinctive style as they challenge themselves with phrases such as “My Swiss miss misses Mississippi,” “Giddy gladiators grow gladiolas,” and “If Shep chews shoes what shoes will he choose?” With engaging illustrations and a unique perspective, this creative book will capture the interests of readers of all ages as they stumble through its pages.? Acclaimed graphic designer Seymour Chwast is the co-founder of Push Pin Studios, now Pushpin Group. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and many other publications. Chwast illustrated Harry’s Bath (2005) and a series of graphic novel adaptations of major classic works with Bloomsbury Press, including Dante’s Inferno (2010), Canterbury Tales (2011), and The Odyssey (2012).

A child and her companions collect a number of seashells from one to twelve.

A Science Friday Best Science Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year A Library Journal Best Science and Technology Book of the Year A Tampa Bay Times Best Book of the Year A stunning history of seashells and the animals that make them that "will have you marveling at nature…Barnett’s account remarkably spirals out, appropriately, to become a much larger story about the sea, about global history and about environmental crises and preservation" (John Williams, New York Times Book Review). Seashells have been the most coveted and collected of nature’s creations since the dawn of humanity. They were money before coins, jewelry before gems, art before canvas. In The Sound of the Sea, acclaimed environmental author Cynthia Barnett blends cultural history and science to trace our long love affair with seashells and the hidden lives of the mollusks that make them. Spiraling out from the great cities of shell that once rose in North America to the warming waters of the Maldives and the slave castles of Ghana, Barnett has created an unforgettable history of our world through an examination of the unassuming seashell. She begins with their childhood wonder, unwinds surprising histories like the origin of Shell Oil as a family business importing exotic shells, and charts what shells and the soft animals that build them are telling scientists about our warming, acidifying seas. From the eerie calls of early shell trumpets to the evolutionary miracle of spines and spires and the modern science of carbon capture inspired by shell, Barnett circles to her central point of listening to nature’s wisdom—and acting on what seashells have to say about taking care of each other and our world.

A collection of tongue twisters, along with an explanation of what sounds in the piece make it difficult to repeat.

The beautifully written story of shells and their makers, and our relationships with them. Seashells are the sculpted homes of a remarkable group of animals: the molluscs. These are some of the most ancient and successful animals on the planet. But watch out. Some molluscs can kill you if you eat them. Some will kill you if you stand too close. That hasn't stopped people using shells in many ways over thousands of years. They became the first jewelry and oldest currencies; they've been used as potent symbols of sex and death, prestige and war, not to mention a nutritious (and tasty) source of food. Spirals in Time is an exuberant aquatic romp, revealing amazing tales of these undersea marvels. Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology. Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution. Shells are also bellwethers of our impact on the natural world. Some species have been overfished, others poisoned by polluted seas; perhaps most worryingly of all, molluscs are expected to fall victim to ocean acidification, a side-effect of climate change that may soon cause shells to simply melt away. But rather than dwelling on what we risk losing, Spirals in Time urges you to ponder how seashells can reconnect us with nature, and heal the rift between ourselves and the living world.

"Descriptive accounts, distribution maps, and 265 color photographs describe 252 species of mollusk shells as beachcombers are likely to find them"--P. [4] of cover.