One Tiny Turtle: Read and Wonder - Softcover

Davies, Nicola

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0763623113 ISBN 13: 9780763623111

Publisher: Candlewick, 2005

Synopsis

"Simple, lyrical words and bright, acrylic doublepage pictures convey the astonishing facts about the loggerhead sea turtle. . . . A powerful nature story for a young audience." — Booklist

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. Then, 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 vividly illustrate one turtle's odyssey.

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.

From School Library Journal:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0763623113
• ISBN 13: 9780763623111
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Chapman Jane