Where Should Turtle Be?

Little turtle was lost! Free from his egg, he climbed out into a big, beautiful new world. Lost and alone, he wondered-where did he really belong? The bear told him to live in the woods; the frog said, "The swamp!" But turtle just didn't feel at home. He needed help, but where could he turn? Author Susan Ring helps turtle in this whimsical story of self-exploration and nature, Where Should Turtle Be? Detailed illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein give these friendly animals personality, and in the end, an unexpected tickle and tumble help turtle find his place in his new world.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3

A sea turtle that is blinded by the lights of houses perched on the edge of the ocean goes out into the world instead of toward the bay. Ring uses this starting point to teach readers about other kinds of turtles, such as the box turtle and the terrapin, as the sea turtle wanders through their environments. Unfortunately, the story is told in rhyme, which can make the scientific information sound stilted. Also, the beginning of the story is not well explained, which will necessitate additional information about the ways of sea turtles and why they are born on land but go immediately into the water. The illustrations, created in colored pencil and acrylics, are soft yet detailed. They are accurate, but the similarities in the colors of each environment make the pages blur together. Useful facts and reproducible games appear at the end of the book.-Susan E. Murray, Glendale Public Library, AZ