Ishmael The Snail is a poem about figuring out how to move through life. Ishmael is a snail, but his friends are a wren and a hare. When Ishmael hears his friends talk about racing to hop the fastest and fly the farthest, he feels uneasy and begins to wonder if he's behind. How could he race with hares and wrens if he can't hop or fly? Why does he move differently? With some help from his mother Gail, his friends, and the world around him, Ishmael learns that life is not a race, that everyone moves through it differently, and that our differences are how we help each other along the way.