One Tiny Turtle (Read and Wonder) - Hardcover

Davies, Nicola

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763615498 ISBN 13: 9780763615499

Publisher: Candlewick, 2001

Synopsis

This lyrical and informative look at the elusive and endangered loggerhead turtle is sure to delight young nature lovers.

Far, far out at sea lives one of the world's most mysterious creatures, the loggerhead turtle. For thirty years she swims the oceans, wandering thousands of miles as she searches for food. Until, one summer night, she lands on a beach to lay her eggs—the very same beach where she herself was born. Nicola Davies's lyrical text offers fascinating information about the journey of the tiny, endangered loggerhead, while charming paintings by Jane Chapman vivdly illustrate one turtle's journey.

About this title

About the Author

Nicola Davies has loved sea turtles ever since she first saw one in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Nicola Davies is also the author of BIG BLUE WHALE, BAT LOVES THE NIGHT, and WILD ABOUT DOLPHINS.

Jane Chapman also loves sea turtles and has wanted to paint them for ages. Her other books for children include ONE DUCK STUCK by Phyllis Root and THE EMPEROR'S EGG by Martin Jenkins, a National Science Teachers Association - Children's Book Council Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children.

Reviews

K-Gr 2-This nicely developed picture-book introduction to the loggerhead turtle sketches the life experiences of a typical female through text and broad acrylic views. The author exhibits a flair for alliteration and imagery in her descriptive narrative about this sea animal: "Just beneath the surface is a tangle of weed and driftwood where tiny creatures cling. This is the nursery of a sea turtle." Several pages follow the creature's early period and departure for the larger sea, and then the years of growth and travel are skimmed until her eventual return to the beach of her birth to lay her own eggs. On many pages curving lines of smaller type add bits of explanation, augmenting the story line. The double-spread paintings, occasionally alternating with smaller pictures set on aqua pages, focus on the turtle, with a few water plants suggesting underwater detail. A fine bed of blue crabs on which the turtle feasts is the only view of other animals sharing the ocean habitat until a concluding beach scenario where gulls and crabs threaten the newly hatched turtles who are starting the cycle anew. A very brief introduction identifies this turtle as a loggerhead. Gail Gibbons's Sea Turtles (Holiday, 1995) and Brenda Guiberson's Into the Sea (Holt, l995) offer young readers more information on this interesting animal. Broadly sketched in good language and pictures for read-aloud sharing, Davies's title will be enjoyed as a glimpse into the ways of the remarkable giant sea turtles.

Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Davies's (Bat Loves the Night) dramatic rendering of the life cycle of the Loggerhead turtle draws readers into the mysteries of this reclusive deep-sea creature, while Chapman's (The Emperor's Egg) aqua-tinted full-spread illustrations bring the ocean world to life in all its majestic beauty. Loggerhead swims alone in the vastness of the water, munches on crabs, floats over coral reefs and crawls with slow, heavy steps across the beach to lay her eggs. The text addresses readers directly, while seamlessly weaving facts into the story: "For thirty years you might not find her./ Then one summer night she arrives,/ on the beach where she was born." Additional details deliberately placed outside the story in a smaller font and wavy typeset may confuse youngsters at first, but overall, the informative text flows with poetic grace: "Just beneath the surface/ is a tangle of weed and driftwood/ where tiny creatures cling./ This is the nursery of a sea turtle." Aspiring scientists may also wonder how the newborn turtles find their way from the shore to these "nurseries," but the author gives them much to mull over. By the time Loggerhead's hatchlings race for their lives across the beach, under threat of attack, readers will be emotionally invested in their plight--a sure sign of the accomplished storytelling. Ages 5-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4-9. Simple, lyrical words and bright, acrylic double-page pictures convey the astonishing facts about the Loggerhead sea turtle. The story is told by focusing on one newly hatched baby far out to sea in a tangle of weed and driftwood: how she moves ("flapping her long front flippers like wings . . . flying underwater"); how she breathes; and how she grows during years of traveling thousands of miles from cool seaweed jungles to turquoise lagoons, where she munches on coral. Then the miracle after 30 years: now big as a barrel, she returns to the beach where she was born to mate and lay her eggs. With the narrative about one turtle, there are also a few notes in smaller type that fill in the background, and there's an index to particular topics. Without condescension, this tells a powerful nature story for a young audience. Those who want more can go on to Kathryn Lasky's excellent photo-essay Interrupted Journey (2001), which adds fascinating detail about current efforts at conservation. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0763615498
• ISBN 13: 9780763615499
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Chapman Jane
• Number of pages: 32