Ocean Commotion: Sea Turtles - Hardcover

Janeen Mason

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589804341 ISBN 13: 9781589804340

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

The story begins with a turtle hatching on a Florida beach and then follows her odyssey out to sea. Perseverance is the hallmark of this sea turtle, as she conquers every ocean dilemma with quick thinking and hard work. Janeen Mason introduces young readers to the endangered loggerhead sea turtle and offers a glossary, enforcing new vocabulary relevant to the aquatic environment.

About this title

About the Author

Janeen Mason would rather laugh than sigh; perhaps this attitude explains her use of vibrant color in her designs. She has created a niche for her brilliantly colored marine life artwork that includes distribution at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, Louisiana, Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, North Carolina Aquariums, Virginia Marine Science Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida, the John J. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Her work is printed on puzzles, clay tiles, notecards, and fine-art prints, and she exhibits in galleries and art exhibits nationwide. Janeen Mason is active in arts and culture in her community and around the state. She is a member of the Florida Arts Council, the Childrenís Book Council, and PictureBookArtists.org. She chairs the Public Art Advisory Board and is the illustrator coordinator for the Society of Childrenís Book Writers and Illustrators Florida Region. She has been a curator for many national art exhibits at the Arts Councilís Courthouse Cultural Center, and she has served for many years on the Exhibits Committee there. Ms. Mason writes and illustrates from her home studio near the ocean that she loves in Stuart, Florida.

From the Back Cover

"A visually stunning sea turtle odyssey . . . chock full of science facts for young readers."
--Dr. Edith Widder, president, Ocean Research & Conservation Association

This saltwater adventure introduces young readers to the loggerhead sea turtle. Perseverance is the hallmark of this endangered turtle, as she conquers every ocean dilemma she faces on her journey to adulthood. From the precarious beginning of life as a hatchling, to her return to her home beach as an adult turtle twenty-five years later, she encounters friendly dolphin schools, scary predator fish, and the inside of a fish net. She escapes from the net through a turtle excluder device, which is defined in an informative glossary, added to reinforce relevant words and concepts related to the aquatic environment.

Janeen Mason is an award-winning artist. Her work is printed and sold around the world on puzzles, clay tiles, notecards, and fine-art prints. She exhibits her original art in galleries and art exhibits nationwide, and she is a popular speaker at schools, libraries, and conferences. She has illustrated three previous books for Pelican: The Pirate, Pink, Pirate Pink and Treasures of the Reef, and Kissimmee Pete, Cracker Cow Hunter.

From the Inside Flap

"A visually stunning sea turtle odyssey . . . chock full of science facts for young readers."
--Dr. Edith Widder, president, Ocean Research & Conservation Association

This saltwater adventure introduces young readers to the loggerhead sea turtle. Perseverance is the hallmark of this endangered turtle, as she conquers every ocean dilemma she faces on her journey to adulthood. From the precarious beginning of life as a hatchling, to her return to her home beach as an adult turtle twenty-five years later, she encounters friendly dolphin schools, scary predator fish, and the inside of a fish net. She escapes from the net through a turtle excluder device, which is defined in an informative glossary, added to reinforce relevant words and concepts related to the aquatic environment.

Janeen Mason is an award-winning artist. Her work is printed and sold around the world on puzzles, clay tiles, notecards, and fine-art prints. She exhibits her original art in galleries and art exhibits nationwide, and she is a popular speaker at schools, libraries, and conferences. She has illustrated three previous books for Pelican: The Pirate, Pink, Pirate Pink and Treasures of the Reef, and Kissimmee Pete, Cracker Cow Hunter.

Reviews

Grade 2-4–Brilliant blue, green, and turquoise tones emphasize the flowing paintings in this biography of a female loggerhead sea turtle. Mason's readable text and sophisticated artwork follow the animal from her hatching to her return to her natal beach to lay her first clutch of eggs. Unfamiliar terms are presented in bold type, with a glossary for definitions. An author's note contains several Web sites for further information, and swirling text on the endpapers provides interesting details for the curious of mind. Some anthropomorphism runs throughout (for example, Ouch! Someone's flipper poked her….). Brenda Guiberson's equally handsome Into the Sea (Holt, 1996) is similar in scope; for a look at a hatchling's chances of even reaching the sea, try Stephen Swinburne's attractive Turtle Tide (Boyds Mills, 2005). Despite the human thoughts in a turtle's brain, this eye-catching title on a popular topic is an additional purchase.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

With bright double-page illustrations in brilliant shades of blue, Mason draws attention to the astonishing science of turtle migration and survival. Presenting the facts through the viewpoint of one loggerhead turtle, she follows the reptile from its hatching on a moonlit Florida beach through its amazing, dangerous journey across the oceans of the world to its return to the Florida shoreline, where it will mate and nest in its twenty-fifth year of life. The occasional cute remark ("I'm never going to bite a hook!") gets in the way of the facts, and it's unfortunate that some interesting information is buried in the glossary (including how turtle excluder devices help turtles escape from fish nets). But the biology is exciting, and the facts are sure to spark discussion. For young conservationists who want to find out more, Mason appends a few Web sites. A map would have been helpful, too. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589804341
• ISBN 13: 9781589804340
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Janeen Mason
• Number of pages: 32