Box Turtle at Silver Pond Lane (Smithsonian's Backyard) - Hardcover

Rezensionen

K-Gr 2-A day in the life of a female box turtle includes searching for food, withstanding threats from a raccoon and a car, and laying her eggs. Attractive oil paintings effectively portray her environment with a dark palette of greens, blues, and browns. The author is careful to avoid personification in this snapshot of one turtle. The book is similar to William T. George's highly acclaimed Box Turtle at Long Pond (Greenwillow, 1989). It follows a day in the life of a male box turtle and is accompanied by exquisite gouache paintings. It edges out Korman's book in preciseness of language and detail in illustration, but both are worthy purchases and would work well together for comparisons of male and female box turtles as well as the styles of authors and illustrators.

Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5-8. Like other books in Smithsonian's Backyard series, this presents a familiar creature through a slice-of-life story about one member of the species. This time, the focus is on a female eastern box turtle. Illustrations, full of deep greens and browns and evocative of a northeastern woodland, show the turtle evading danger from animals, cars, and humans as it seeks a place to lay its eggs. With a straightforward story told in simple language, the book will work well as a read-aloud for young children. Additional facts about turtles are provided in an author's note (though not enough for actual research), and there's a note warning children not to eat the wild plants favored by the turtle. Glossary. Catherine Andronik
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