Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! [Library Binding]

April Pulley Sayre (Author), Lee Christiansen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

When Turtle is just an egg buried in sand, hungry raccoons try to dig her up. Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! But a child scares them away and puts wire mesh over the nest to protect the eggs. As Turtle hatches, scurries to sea, grows up, and becomes a mother turtle returning to the same beach to lay her own eggs, numerous dangers threaten her. Sometimes she escapes through her own efforts, and sometimes she needs the help of human hands. This exciting story vividly describes the life cycle of a sea turtle and the ways we can help these endangered animals survive. Rich artwork and a dramatic read-aloud text make it a tale that will keep children on the edge of their seats.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Sayre follows in the wake of a female loggerhead from her birth on a Florida beach to the day, many years later, when she returns to the same place to lay her own eggs. The simple text describes how the creature narrowly avoids many of the life-threatening dangers faced by maturing sea turtles in today's world. Often, caring humans assist her; for example, a young boy places mesh around a turtle nest to protect the eggs and a boater removes a plastic bag from the water before it can be mistaken for food. Eye-catching, realistic pastel paintings-most of them covering two pages-show sienna and gold sunsets and sunrises, the blue-green underwater realm, and detailed close-ups of the growing loggerhead and other sea creatures. Children will be drawn to the picture of a sea turtle surrounded by sharks on the cover, and to the catchy refrain, "Turtle, Turtle, watch out!" While books such as Brenda Guiberson's Into the Sea (Holt, 1995), Don Patton's Sea Turtles (Child's World, 1995), and Gail Gibbons's Sea Turtles (Holiday, 1995) stress the negative impact of human interference on the sea turtle's survival, Sayre also emphasizes the results of positive actions. Even libraries that already own those titles will want to add this one to their collections.
Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A mother sea turtle lays her eggs in the Florida sand, then crawls back into the water. Raccoons begin to dig up the eggs, but a boy scares them off. He then sets off a protected area for them, complete with warning signs. Months later, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles head for the ocean. The story follows one baby turtle that survives, matures, and returns one night to the same Florida beach to lay her own eggs. "And some will make it, with a little luck, and fast-moving flippers, and the help of many hands." The concluding pages note the endangered status of sea turtles and suggest ways in which people, even children, can protect them from harm. Many animal books for young children end with an appended plea for people to protect an endangered species, but none has so memorably dramatized in the book itself how people can help animals in the wild. The simple, direct text reads aloud well, drawing readers into the turtles' story without anthropomorphism. Impressive pastel illustrations, including many dramatic double-page spreads, depict with power and beauty the turtles' world of sand and shore. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY) (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531302857
• ISBN-13: 978-0531302859
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,324,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

April Pulley Sayre loves the sounds of animals and the sounds of words. She is an award-winning author of over 55 natural history books for children and adults. Her read-aloud books, known for their lyricism and scientific precision, have been translated into French, Dutch, Japanese, and Korean. Her picture book VULTURE VIEW, illustrated by Steve Jenkins, received the Theodor "Seuss" Geisel Honor from the American Library Association. STARS BENEATH YOUR BED: the Surprising Story of Dust, received the AAAS/SB&F/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books and was named an ALA Notable. ONE IS SNAIL, TEN IS A CRAB was an ALA Notable and received Britain's highest literacy award. THE BUMBLEBEE QUEEN marked her third win of the John Burroughs Award. Sayre and her husband Jeff have followed lemurs in Madagascar, pursued army ants in Panama, and eaten piranha in the Peruvian Amazon. Mostly, though, they garden for wildlife and munch blueberries at their home in the Midwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful illustrations!, February 27, 2010

By 

D. J. Zemenick (Pensacola Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! (School & Library Binding)

My hardback copy of Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! arrived this week and I'm delighted with it. It is a charming and educational book, and so beautifully illustrated! As a volunteer for Gulf Islands National Seashore, I patrol the beach at dawn for sea turtle nests from May through September and nest-sit at night from July through October when hatchlings emerge. I appreciate the way Ms. Sayre shows the challenges these endangered species face in order to survive - and also how she tells a bit about each species at the back of the book.

The illustrations by Annie Patterson are luminous indeed and perfectly capture the glow of the moon on the water and beach at night as we patiently wait for a nest of hatchlings to come boiling out of the sand and then strive to protect them on their march to the sea. Through her illustrations you may be able to see in part how we become so passionate about our conservation efforts with sea turtles.

I just love this book and think that adults and children alike will be captivated by Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss out on this beautiful book and great story!, February 16, 2010

By 

Judy Potter "Bluemoon Goddess" (near Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! (School & Library Binding)

The beautiful colors and the incredible detail of this book will have you noticing something different each time you look at a page. The story is an important one about an important topic. The Loggerhead turtle...the world's most-studied and best-known sea-turtle, also endangered. The illustrator of this book brings it all to life with the magic of her palette and her eye for detail. I have a collection of children's books and this one goes at the top of my collection... for all ages.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Story, September 1, 2010

By 

A. Thomason (Georgia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! (Paperback)

My daughter and I love this story. We found it at a bookstore when we were visiting Amelia Island. We sat down in the store and read it right there! My daughter loved the story. I decided to wait and order it off Amazon when we got home from vacation, as it was almost 50% cheaper on Amazon. The story is about a little baby turtle and follows her journey as a hatchling, an adult turtle in the ocean, and the return to her birth beach - and all the dangers she faced along the way. Very sweet story!