Crab, Dab & Blenny

Written by Peta Rainford Highly Recommended ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Published by     Dogpigeon Books (3 May 2021) Genre Children's Books on Marine Life, Picture Book Pages 32 ISBN-10 0995646546 ISBN-13 978-0995646544 For children aged 3 - 8 years

Today I am bringing you my review of children's author Peta Rainford's latest publication, Crab, Dab & Blenny. It's on a blog tour, and I must thank Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to join the tour, and Peta Rainford for providing me with a free paperback copy of her book to review. 

The blurb:

Crab, Dab & Blenny

Crab, Dab & Blenny is a fun, rhyming picture book about the serious theme of plastics in the ocean.

Fish friends Dab and Blenny are upset by the plastic that washes into their lovely rockpool home. Crab, on the other hand, just LOVES the shiny bright colour… But when Blenny gets caught in plastic twine, Crab finally understands the danger of plastics in the ocean.

Crab, Dab & Blenny is a book that celebrates friendship and the vast variety of life that exists in a quiet rockpool. Perfect for early readers or as a bedtime story for four- to eight-year-olds.

Children's Books on Marine Life    Picture Book   

My thoughts:

Crab, Dab & Blenny is the story of a group of small marine friends who live in a rock pool. Their environment refreshes daily as the tide washes in and out. However, due to pollution, the rock pool begins to fill with plastics large and small - some invisible to the naked eye. The little creatures are affected by the arrival of the various plastics. Crab is happy to make use of the newly arrived plastics, without thinking about how dangerous it all is for the inhabitants of the pool, until one of his friends, Blenny, becomes trapped by some discarded twine. Fortunately, some litter pickers working on the beach, clear the visible plastics from rock pool and save Blenny.

After a morning enjoying the beach with my granddaughter, we snuggled down on the sofa to read Crab, Dab & Blenny together. She was fascinated by the colourful illustrations, excitedly pointing to 'Crab' and 'Star' (a star fish) as we turned the pages. The rhyming story was calming to read, and she sat happily listening and pointing to the things she knew right to the end. Apparently a first, as she has not previously sat for the reading of a whole book.

While this book is aimed at older children - 3 years upwards - it was certainly a hit with my 18 month old granddaughter, and she had it read to her several times during her visit. She is too young to understand environmental issues at the moment, but thoroughly enjoyed picking out the sea creatures, the crisps packet, the foot and the hands.

Crab, Dab & Blenny is a great educational resource, effectively delivering its message about plastics and pollution to younger readers, in easily understood vocabulary, backed up with lots of beautiful illustrations. I highly recommend this book and know it will find its way into several Christmas stockings this year.

Purchase from:

Amazon UK     Amazon US     Amazon CA     Amazon AU

Waterstones    Barnes & Noble

Author Bio – Peta Rainford

Peta writes and illustrates her funny picture books on the Isle of Wight, where she lives with her husband, daughter, and hairy jack russell, Archie. In normal times, Peta loves going into schools to share her books and inspire children in their writing and art. She has appeared at a number of festivals and other events, including: Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, Isle of Wight Literary Festival, Exmoor Dark Skies Festival and Ventnor Fringe. She is one of the organisers of the IW Story Festival, for children and families, which takes place every February half term.

Other stories I've read by Peta Rainford

Social Media Links –
X	@PetaRainford
Facebook	@dogpigeon
Web site	www.dogpigeon.co.uk
Instagram	petarainford

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