Blue Crab Blues: Crabby Crab by Chris Raschka

The sun may be high over the beach, but it's definitely low tide as far as Crabby Crab is concerned. His shell may be bright red, but he's definitely one blue crab.And when this crustacean gets crotchety, he's quite a cranky crab.

His seaside retinue tries to cheer him up, pointing out that as crabs go, he's a hunk. Why, he's got two curvaceous claws.

Crabby Crab complains that he would just as soon have fingers, thank you!

His friends cite the fact that he has eight (count 'em) legs. (He's way ahead in the locomotion category. After all, Clam has only a foot, and no legs at all!)

Crab kvetches that they only walk sideways. He couldn't "go straight" even if he wanted to.

It seems that Crab cannot be consoled. But after all, who actually expects a perky crab? He is their Crabby Crab, and his oceanside gang loves him for his, um, consistency! Yeah, yeah, that's it.

In his brand-new Thingy Things book, Chris Raschka's Crabby Crab (Thingy Things) (Abrams Appleseed Books, 2014), Caldecott artist Chris Raschka takes complaining to new heights with his irascible crab protagonist. Raschka's art style is in full evidence here, with his textured scratchy line and paint daubs seemingly applied with abandon, managing to give his cross crustacean a lot of quirky personality and what looks like a heck of a sunburn. "Sublimely ridiculous!" crows Kirkus in their starred review.

Others of Chris Raschka's Thingys (Thingies?) are Cowy Cow (Thingy Things), Whaley Whale (Thingy Things), and Lamby Lamb (Thingy Things).