All About Turtles [Hardcover]

Jim Arnosky (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Jim Arnosky has compiled his meticulous first-hand observations and created an appealing picture book all about turtles - including what they eat, what their shells are made of, and how they survive in the wild.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-As in the previous titles in this series, Arnosky draws on his personal experiences and observations to share his fascination for the natural world with children. The realistic, colorful illustrations depict a wide variety of turtles, from the massive marine leatherbacks to the land-loving box turtle and the familiar painted turtle of freshwater ponds. This visual feast is accompanied by a simple text describing turtle physiology, habitats, lifestyles, and reproduction. An unfortunate lapse, however, is that there is no scale to indicate size comparison, which may confuse children not up on turtle physiology. Team this with Melvin Berger's less elegant (but still attractive) Look Out for Turtles! (HarperCollins, 1992) for a fine chelonian presentation.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

``Have you ever wondered about turtles?'' For readers who have wondered, this is an outstanding introduction. Arnosky provides a brief, informative text and beautiful, detailed full-color paintings with enormous appeal. He describes freshwater, salt water, and land-dwelling turtles, showing the differences in shell structure, patterns, anatomy, habitat, eggs, and diet. Only common names are given for the species illustrated, but many will be familiar. For example, freshwater turtles include the cooter, spotted, and painted turtles, while sea turtles depicted are the loggerhead, leatherback, and softshell. The author does not include size or range information. When specialized scientific language is used, the carefully placed drawings make clear what the author refers to. For example, drawings show the upper and lower turtle shell and are labeled ``carapace'' and ``plastron.'' There are also side views to help the reader tell a female turtle with convex plastron and the male turtle with concave plastron. Part of the ``All About'' series, this is an unusually appealing title by a fine science artist and author. Recommended with enthusiasm. (Nonfiction. 7-10)-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590481495
• ISBN-13: 978-0590481496
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, April 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: All About Turtles (Hardcover)

I am a 11 year old girl and my friend and I are thinking of buying a turtle. We found this book extremly helpful and for any turtle lover it is a must have!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, April 12, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: All About Turtles (Hardcover)

I am a six year old boy, and I learned so much more about turtles from this book. I thought turtles do not hibernate, but the book told me that they hibernate. I liked the pictures very much. the illustrations are very good, they look realistic, the paintings do not look like paintings, they look like real pictures.