Seashores: A Guide to Animals and Plants Along the Beaches

by Herbert S. Zim, Lester Ingle, Dorothy Barlowe (Illustrator)

A guide to identification of marine plant and animal life along 88,600 miles of tidal shoreline of the United States.

Genres: Reference, Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Field Guides, Animals, Childrens

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Herbert Spencer Zim (July 12, 1909 – December 5, 1994) was a naturalist, author, editor and educator best known as the founder (1945) and editor-in-chief of the Golden Guides series of nature books.

Reviews

[Jessaka]

Seashores: A Guide to Animals and Plants Along the Beaches by Herbert S. Zim

I read this book as a kid, and I find it strange that I can not think of much to say about it. My family used to take us to Morro Bay and to Avila Beach, and I would look for sea shells, and I loved the tide pools, but I realize that I am not much of a sea person although I love sea adventure books. Still I am afraid of the water, and I found it too cold to enjoy in Morro Bay. I much preferred it when I grew up and went to Mexico’s warm beaches.

I suppose I can write a review about how we have polluted our oceans, and how I had just read in a book that boats get destroyed when junk in the ocean hits their boats. I could talk about the sludge off New York Harbor or the toxins that we pile into it, but I won’t.

It is my husband who loves the beach, and I wish we could afford to live in California and own a home, but we can’t. Rent we could do. So we take trips back to Morro Bay and walk along the beach. I do love the pelicans that we see, and I wish I could find another piece of dried kelp in order to make a kelp horn. One year we drove along the beaches on the east coast and neither of us was impressed. I suppose the best beaches are in cities, which we tried our best to go around. I remember living in Florida and while I loved their beaches they were the only thing of interest in Florida outside of the everglades. I preferred the swamps.

I know that I collected sand dollars and dead starfish as a kid. I remember my older sister bringing a starfish home and spraying it with cologne to kill the fishy smell; instead it stunk of both.

The most fun times at the beach were with my husband and our dog. Our first dog would play Frisbee and would go out into the ocean to fetch it. The first throw of the Frisbee didn’t interest her because she was afraid of the water. Then she saw two other dogs playing in the ocean, and she was hooked. I feel bad that when we moved to Del Mar, CA that I didn’t take her more often to the beach, because she loved dog beach. The dog we have now didn’t grow up in a beach town; she grew up in Oklahoma. We took her to Morro Bay a few years ago, and she loved the beach, but mostly she ran around urinating on all the piles of kelp.

When I read the book Kon Tiki I wanted so much to see the bioluminescence creatures that they saw in the water, and when we went to Puerto Rico last May I had hoped to see them, but they were all booked, and if we wanted to go we would have had to have found our own way in the dark. I could kick myself for us not being so adventurous, just as I was not so adventurous as to put my hand in the swamp there just to feel the water.

There are just too many scary things about the ocean, which makes me an armchair adventurer. Maybe it is because my father took me out on a boat somewhere and I was afraid that an octopus would get me. I must have seen a movie with octopi in it, one that dragged the people off their boat and ate them.

As far as the shore goes, I know enough to warn you to not step on jellyfish but if you do, urine on where it stung you, and then see a doctor.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of my first introductions to the seashore and ocean life. Its pages were ones I perused often and I hold the illustrations close to my heart.

[Brianna Steinman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think part of my four-star review is the nostalgia of it all, copyright 1955, but this still managed to capture my imagination fully and was a great beginner collection. It was beautifully done and maybe I appreciated it even more so due to its vintage state. I bookmarked several pages that I thought were good overview notes; I’d really like to check into the “books for further study” and the museums, aquaria and marine biological stations listed in the back. Overall, I enjoyed this immensely. Sidenote: I love the fact there is a ruler built-in to the edge of the page in the glossary (both in centimeters and inches). I wish I saw that more often in identification or guide books.

[Sarah Ehinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are great little scientific introductions to the subject matter. I think reading these to your kids in preparation for a trip to an ocean beach would be super cool. While they may not see many of the creatures depicted, I'm guessing they may spot a few.

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical, well-written, elementary nature guide.