Books We Love! The Bumpy Lumpy Horseshoe Crab

Horseshoe Crabs are Awesome!

Yes, I am partial to horseshoe crabs – I love the beach and the water and have had the luxury of growing up near the ocean and on the river – where we have … you guessed it, horseshoe crabs!

When we found this book at our local bookstore and had to share it with you. The Bumpy Lumpy Horseshoe Crab, written and illustrated by Janice S. C. Petrie is also available on Amazon.  This picture book is a wonderful tale of a horseshoe crab that is ‘litter’ free – he soon realizes that a smooth clean shell may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

I fell in love with this book and love telling people about it – the illustrations and the story are so wonderful and this rhyming read out loud will be loved by the whole family.

Not only is this a fun picture book but it also includes some great facts about these wonderful living fossils.

We want to share a short video of our horseshoe crab encounter with you.

Here is a little longer version with even more horseshoe crabs.

During the full moon of May and the high tides that come with it, the horseshoe crabs will come into the rocky shore to dig holes and lay their eggs. The females are larger than the males and dig the holes. One month later, during the full moon of June, the eggs will hatch and the next generation of horseshoe crabs will make their way into the river and ocean.

Later in the Spring we find plenty of horseshoe crab molts in the wrack line and even floating in the river. They come in all sizes- as the horseshoe crab outgrows its shell, it goes through the molting process, shedding the old shell and then going into hiding until his new outer shell hardens.

Get outside and see what you can find!