Turtle Time Tales (FAMILY magazine reviews)

April hosts Earth Day, Poetry month, the time of turtles and birds; it can be the best of spring in South Florida. This between time – after winter’s wait and before summer’s heat – offers the opportunity for finding one’s own place in the world. As the seasons change, so do we. Fortunately or not, the spiral that brings us around the cycle of the year is never the same twice. And this collection of turtle tales supplies us with much to extend our imaginations. Stretch your “fanciful” muscles, dream. Follow a whim. Share these stories with your favorite small person. Don’t be afraid to invent or re-invent your own life!  

Ocean Commotion: Sea Turtles 

by Janeen Mason

            Beautifully illustrated, this biography about a loggerhead turtle whose hatching and later travels across the world’s oceans is a fascinating saga. She navigates the dangers of sea birds, crabs, sharks and nets to return to the beach of her birth to lay eggs.

            The swirling movement of blue, green and purple ocean currents echoes the movement of the sea’s creatures, as the female turtle crawls, drifts, paddles, dives and swims on her long journey. The important role of sargassum (a floating ocean weed) to supply both food and protection is highlighted.

This well researched picture book reflects the author’s passion for the environment, especially marine life. Revealing the lush diversity of sea life on display in the immensity of the world’s oceans, the reader’s immersion in the life of the sea is enhanced by the vitality of the illustrations.

At the back is a Note from the Author, including current websites. Also, words from the Glossary at the end are printed in bold type in the text.

           

Pelican Publishing Company, $15.99 

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Turtle’s Race with Beaver: A Traditional Seneca Story 

by Joseph Bruchac & James Bruchac

Illustrated by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey

            Turtle lives in a beautiful pond with everything a turtle could need; plenty of food and rocks for sunning. But one winter a beaver builds a dam, making the water deeper and deeper.

            Turtle wakes from hibernation and swims up from the mud. She discovers that Beaver doesn’t want to share the pond, even though there’s plenty of room. Instead, Beaver challenges her to race. “Whoever winds can stay, whoever loses must go find a new home.”

            Although Turtle doesn’t really want to race, she agrees. Beaver tells all the local animals about the race and a crowd gathers. They chant: TURTLE! BEAVER! TURTLE! BEAVER! Beaver is confident. Turtle thinks Beaver, with his flat tail, is likely a faster swimmer. But she has an idea.

            She bites into Beaver’s tale just as he leaps into the pond. It looks like Beaver will win. Turtle bites harder. The animals are cheering from the shore. Turtle bites even harder. Beaver yells and flips his big tail out of the water. Turtle lets go, flying over Beaver’s head, landing on the shore, and crawling across the finish line to win.

            Well-loved illustrators Dewey and Aruego use pen and ink, gouache, and pastels for the action that draws laughter from readers and listeners alike. The movement of the water, and the participation of the woodland animals with their intent expressions, matches the vivid language of the text.

            Turtle is delighted. But she also notices Beaver’s sadness. Despite her offer to share the pond, Beaver leaves in embarrassment.

            The ending, however, is very satisfying for young children. Turtle is once more content in her pond. And, Beaver finds a new pond – this time asking another turtle to share. The two live happily sharing the pond together.

Penguin, $5.99 (paperback) 

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Emma’s Turtle

by Eve Bunting 

Illustrated by Marsha Winborn

            A turtle has heard Emma, the girl whose pet he is, read about faraway lands. He decides to go exploring, digging a hole under the wire of his pen. He thinks he may be in the African jungle because the grass he crawls through is so long. Perhaps that’s an elephant leg he sees ahead. Or no, it’s really a strange jungle tree stump.

When a frog leaps past, the turtle wonders if it’s a kangaroo from Australia. Later, he wonders if he’s in India when he first sees the striped tail of the next-door cat and thinks it might be a tiger.

Watercolor illustrations are imaginative and match the sometimes-comic voice of the turtle with amused, fearful, funny, relieved, curious, expressive faces of all the creatures and Emma.

Turtle’s been away all day by now and begins to worry about how to get back to the United States. Then Emma finds him and carries him back. And there are “strawberry slices scattered” for his supper.

Although he has never left the yard, young children will “get it” that he has had a splendid adventure.

Boyds Mills Press, $6.95 (paperback) 

$15.95 (hardcover) 

Interest Level: Pre-School – Grade 1

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

MORE TURTLE BOOKS!

Turtle, Turtle Watch Out!  

by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Annie Patterson

Charlesbridge Publishing, $7.95 (paperback) 

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Turtle Tide: The Ways of Sea Turtles 

by Stephen R. Swinburne, 

illustrated by Bruce Hiscock

Boyds Mills Press, $11.95 (paperback) 

Interest Level: Grades 2-5

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

The Tortoise and the Hare 

by Alison Ritchie, illustrated by Nahta Noj

Candlewick Press, $15.99

Interest Level: Pre-School – Grade 1

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

A Piper (Monday Poem)

by Seumus O'Sullivan


A piper in the streets today
Set up and tuned, and started to play,
And away, away, away on the tide
Of his music we started; on every side
Doors and windows were opened wide,
And men left down their work and came,
And women with petticoats coloured like flame.
And little bare feet that were blue with cold,
Went dancing back to the age of gold,
And all the world went gay, went gay,
For half an hour in the street today.


from Collected Poems, 1940, Orwell Press
by way of Time for Poetry: A Teacher's Anthology, compiled by May Hill Arbuthnot, 1951, Scott, Foresman & Company

Oh Have You Heard (Monday Poem)

by Shel Silverstein


Oh have you heard it's time for vaccinations?
I think someone put salt into your tea.
They're giving us eleven-month vacations.
And Florida has sunk into the sea.

Oh have you heard the President has measles?
The principal has just burned down the school.
Your hair is full of ants and purple weasels---
                       APRIL FOOL!



Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, 1974, Harper & Row

Untitled (Monday Poem)

The Search (Monday Poem)

by Shel Silverstein


I went to find the pot of gold
That's waiting where the rainbow ends.
I searched and searched and searched and searched
And searched and searched, and then ---
There it was, deep in the grass,
Under an old and twisty bough.
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine at last  . . . .
What do I search for now?



Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, 1974, Harper & Row  

Words + Imagination = Stories (especially stories in books!) FAMILY magazine reviews

A time for telling stories is also a great time for writing stories. Mix together the following important ingredients: begin with imagination, you’ll need at least two quarts, add a pint of problem solving, a liter of listening, and sprinkle with sharing. It also helps if you like to play with words and ideas, because you’ll need to whip and stir until the texture is just right. And don’t forget exploring – an adventure is almost always the way in to a terrific story. Let the story cook for at least fifteen minutes before removing from the heat. And then, of course, one must read . . . stories. Enjoy!

By Mouse and Frog by Deborah Freedman

            Mouse wakes up one morning, “eager to write a brand-new story.” It’s a restful story until Frog literally jumps in with cake on his mind. And, a King who likes “elevendy-seven kinds of ice cream. And, a litany of loyal subjects who cheer, and play games, in a stream-of-conscious chaos of nursery rhymes, lines from children’s literature (are you my mother?, you monkeys, you, I think I can, hey diddle diddle), and even stinky cheese.

            When Mouse screams, “STOP!” amid a rumpus of excitement, a dragon in pencil has arrived on a double page spread with crashing energy. There are colorful butterflies, and melting ice cream spilling across Mouse’s no longer white pages. His story is a mess.

            Finally, Mouse and Frog talk about whose story it is. Frog starts to erase the King and Dragon. Yet, as Mouse begins second telling, Frog gets excited again. A reminder from Mouse about whose story it is, changes to a conversation about to which the story belongs.

            The pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations open the story in mostly white, black and brown. But as the story bursts apart, so do the paintings. A colorful ice cream tower topples in a purple blast of dragon breath. Frog’s expression of delight contrasts sharply with Mouse, hiding under the table, with his eyes covered. Still, as the jubilant garden emerges, the two friends’ faces beam. Author-illustrator Freedman vividly helps her readers explore adventure, collaboration and creativity with passion.

Viking, $16.99 Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 2

Use Your Imagination (But Be Careful What You Wish For!) by Nicola O’Byrne

            Rabbit is bored. Wolf appears, claiming to be a librarian. “Use your imagination . . . words and pictures to create a story,” he tells Rabbit. However, when Rabbit wants to include space rockets, explosions and lots of bananas in the story, Wolf objects. “We need . . . a fairy tale . . . with a bad guy,” he says.

Rabbit imagines a mouse, and an elephant, both of which Wolf dismisses. But Wolf accepts, saying, “Now that’s a good idea,” when Rabbit asks, “What about you?”

            They discuss a hero (Rabbit), a costume, a setting. And suddenly Wolf is chasing a panting rabbit. Several hints in the conversation invite readers to remember at least one other story with a wolf.

The mixed media illustrations accent the characters’ expressions, allowing them to stand out from the surrounding white space. An especially strong image begins the book: Wolf’s gray shadow, falls across Rabbit, who is propped up on elbows. Later in the story, brightly designed vertical rods, looking like colorful candy sticks; appear as tree trunks in an imagined forest.

Rabbit, as hero, however, stops running and takes control of the story, again using imagination. A lift-up page showing Wolf inside a red rocket with “BLAST OFF” in giant letters, folds out to show Rabbit’s good idea.

The final double page spread with Rabbit’s last words “Isn’t using your imagination a wonderful thing?” makes use of the back cover with a cutout parallelogram to suggest where the next phase of this story might go. “You never know where your imagination might lead you,” is both conclusion and invitation on the outside back cover.

Candlewick Press, $15.99 Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2

Roger is Reading a Book by Koen Van Biesen, translated by Laura Watkinson

            This zany storybook uses adroit repetition to tell a simple tale of Roger who is quietly reading. A book.

            But Emily is playing. A game. It turns out to be a loud game.

            “Roger knocks.”

            The quiet doesn’t last. Emily is singing. A song. Loudly.

            So “Roger knocks. Noisily.”

            Van Biesen’s spare language is cleverly matched with line drawings, color and other mixed media. As language, sound and energy escalate, the content in the illustrations increases in complexity.

Not only does this add interest as readers watch the dog at Roger’s feet change from snoozing, to listening, to begging for a walk. But the level of noise elevates, as the level of annoyance keeps pace. The curious reader then invests more, wondering . . . what will happen next?!

            Finally Roger, who is “not reading now,” but pacing, decides to act. The dog must stay, while Roger who has “made up his mind,” delivers a beautifully wrapped package to Emily.

            While the gift seems to have solved the problem, the story is not yet complete. The dog, it turns out, is not satisfied with Roger’s solution. And although it’s now raining outside, everyone in the story – Roger, Emily, and pooch – are now, not reading. But they are all smiling.

Eerdmans, $16.00 Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 2

 MORE!

 Where Are My Books? by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Simon & Schuster, $17.99 Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 3

 

Look! by Jeff Mack

Philomel Books, $16.99 Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Eerdmans, $17.50 Interest Level: Grade 2 +

The Princess and the Giant: A Funny Tale for Anyone Who Loves a Bedtime Story by Caryl Hart, illustrated by Sarah Warburton

Candlewick Press, $16.99 Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2

The Edge of the World (Monday Poem)

by Shel Silverstein


Columbus said the world is round?
Don't you believe a word of that.
For I've been down to the edge of the world,
Sat on the edge where the wild wind whirled,
Peeked over the ledge where the blue smoke curls,
And I can tell you, boys and girls,
The world is FLAT!


Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, 1974, Harper & Row