Picture Books

Chadwick the Crab

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Tidewater Publishers, 1986

ISBN: 978-0-87033-347-7

Ages 5 and up

Chadwick is a happy Chesapeake Bay blue crab who enjoys a wide circle of friends - quiet Orville Oyster, Matilda (a fussy, near-sighted egret), Toulouse the Canada Goose, Bernie the Sea Gull and especially Esmerelda, the prettiest girl crab in the entire bay. But Chadwick yearns for adventure and decides that more than anything else he wants to be a star at the aquarium in Baltimore. This is the story of how one little crab realizes a very big dream.


Chadwick and the Garplegrungen

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Tidewater Publishers, 1987

ISBN: 978-0-87033-377-4

Ages 5 and up

What is that awful green and purple gunk bubbling up in the normally blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay? Chadwick the Crab and his friends call it garplegrungen; people call it pollution. Whatever its name, Chadwick decides he has to get rid of it. Dr. Mallard (that old quack) tells him it's no use. But with the help of old and new friends, such as stately Baron von Heron and Belly Jeans, the shy flounder, Chadwick finds a way to save the Bay.


Chadwick's Wedding

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Tidewater Publishers, 1989

ISBN: 978-0-87033-390-3

Ages 5 and up

Wedding shells are ringing! Chadwick the Crab is getting married and everyone is preparing for the big event! Esmerelda is choosing her bridesmaids, Baron von Heron is writing the ceremony (in rhyme, of course), and Toulouse, the gourmet Canada goose, is baking a corn and eelgrass cake. But then, just as Chadwick begins to have second thoughts about marriage, Esmerelda disappears! Suddenly, the wedding of off and the search is on.


Chadwick Forever

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 1993

ISBN: 978-0-87033-450-4

Ages 5 and up

Chadwick the Crab and Bernie the Sea Gull are worried they're going to lose a good friend forever. Hester, the Delmarva fox squirrel, has discovered a book telling her she's on the endangered species list. Not only that, but there's a mysterious monster lurking around Shady Creek. And all this happens just when Chadwick and Esmerelda are getting ready to welcome their big little family home.


Meet Chadwick

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 1999

ISBN: 978-0-87033-516-7

Ages 2 and up

Especially for the picture-book audience, Meet Chadwick introduces Chadwick, the Chesapeake Bay blue crab, and his many friends including Bernie the Sea Gull, Toulouse the Canada Goose, Matilda Egret, Hector Spector the Jellyfish and Orville Oyster. As the story goes: 'Though Chadwick and his many friends are different as can be, they live together happily in a bay, beside the sea.'


The Chadwick Coloring Book

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 1988

ISBN: 978-0-87033-389-7

Ages 2 and up

Children can color characters and scenes from the Chadwick stories.


Chadwick & Friends

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7643-5579-0

For the youngest readers

A lift-the-flap book introduces Chadwick and his friends.


Chadwick Treasury

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-7643-5704-6

Ages 5 and up

The four classic stories of an adventurous blue crab and his friends.


Chadwick Activity Book

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-7643-5911-8

Ages 3 and up

Puzzles, mazes, stickers and coloring pages featuring Chadwick and friends.


Beddy Bye in the Bay

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-7643-3450-4

Ages 2 and up

The creatures of the Chesapeake Bay come to life in this delightful, informative story about how and where they sleep. Herons, crabs, clams, turtles and fish each find a different place to rest in the water and along the shore. When it's time for good night, beddy bye in the Bay, Every animal sleeps in a different way. They may not wear pajamas or slippers like you, But they love to be warm, safe, and comfortable, too.


Beetle Boddiker

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Tidewater Publishing, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-87033-602-7

Ages 2 and up

Beneath the back steps, by a rock in the shade, Beetle Boddiker lives in the house that he made... A cautious old beetle, he rarely leaves home. "The backyard is a jungle," he says. "I won't roam." But one day Beetle Boddiker finds the courage to cross the backyard to see his brother and the adventures begin.


Santa Claws, The Christmas Crab

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2006

ISBN: 978-0-87033-576-1

Ages 2 and up

Travel beneath the Chesapeake Bay where Spud, a feisty young blue crab, hates to nap. Waking his underwater friends, Spud launches a rollicking Christmas Eve party that is interrupted by an unexpected traveler in need of Spud's help. Can Spud help bring Christmas to the Bay?


Chesapeake ABC

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-87033-525-9

Ages 2 and up

A is for anchor, B for boat and bay. Come and learn the alphabet. Have fun - the Chesapeake way!


Chesapeake 1-2-3

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2002

ISBN: 978-0-87033-542-6

Ages 2 and up

Chesapeake 1-2-3 introduces children to numbers by using special sights found in and around the Bay. As a companion book to the popular Chesapeake ABC, this book will delight youngsters with its clever rhymes and whimsical drawings. Do you know how to count? Do you enjoy the Bay? Take a look inside this book And count the Chesapeake way!


Chesapeake Rainbow

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2004

ISBN: 978-0-87033-542-6

Ages 2 and up

Chesapeake Rainbow helps youngsters learn their colors. The book is a bright and wonderful companion book to the popular Chesapeake ABC and Chesapeake 1-2-3. Blue is the color of the water in the Bay, And blue is the color of a perfect day. The heron that we call Great Blue is blue. The stripe down a crab's leg? It's blue, too. Blue is a color of the Chesapeake Bay. Let's think of another that we see everyday. . .


Toulouse: The Story of a Canada Goose

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Schiffer Publishing, 1995

ISBN: 978-0-87033-460-3

Ages 5 and up

Toulouse the Canada Goose has been getting into mischief ever since he was a little yellow gosling. But nothing compares with the trouble he finds on his first fall migration to Maryland. Separated from his family, he is left to find his own way south with a lost snow goose, who becomes a special friend for life. Theirs is a love story that children and grownups alike will treasure.


Oswald and the Timberdoodles

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Tidewater Publishers, 1990

ISBN: 978-0-87033-411-5

Ages 3 and up

Oswald is a great blue heron with a great big problem. He can't straighten his long neck. This creates trouble when it becomes Oswald's turn to guard the marsh. Unable to see over the tall grass, he is banished to a far corner of Shady Creek. There he meets a group of friendly little birds, the timderdoodles, who recognize Oswald's special talent: forecasting the weather. Only after Oswald's timely warning about a tornado do the other herons finally accept Oswald for who he is.


Sid and Sal's Famous Channel Marker Diner

By Priscilla Cummings

Published by Tidewater Publishing, 1991

ISBN: 978-0-87033-423-8

Ages 5 and up

For years Sid and Sal, two typical ospreys, nested on top of a dead pine tree at the edge of a peaceful cove. When their tree was knocked down to make way for the Cozy Cove Condos, Sid and Sal were fortunate to find a new home on a channel marker at the mouth of Shady Creek. The channel marker was so spacious, in fact, that they decided to open a restaurant there, too. They called it 'The Channel Marker Diner.'