danicamidlil's review
2.0
Yet another illustrator who has no clue what the process of knitting actually looks like. sigh.
mlottermoser's review
3.0
A lonely turtle rescues a band of shipwrecked sailors. They build new homes on his shell until they begin to miss home. Fun illustrations, quick read, appropriate for younger kids.
readingthroughtheages's review
3.0
Cute story about the importance of friends and family. Turtle equates the feeling of being lonely to being as big as the ocean. I loved the picture at the end of the animals building a small village on turtle's shell. I would have loved that illustration as a kid! I think young readers will enjoy this sweet story.
witchofthemountains's review
3.0
This book had a cute idea and interesting execution, but I felt like it fell short of its potential. The variety of Turtle Islands towards the end of the book was nice, but the rest of the book was more or less ho-hum.
jessalynn_librarian's review
4.0
March 2017 - We heard this one at storytime and took it home to read again. I love the combination of gorgeous watercolors and cartoon animals, and Turtle's facial expressions are the best. Not quite as clever as [b:I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean!|1096163|I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean!|Kevin Sherry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1430854944s/1096163.jpg|1083001], but it's more straightforward which I think actually makes it work better with younger kids.
February 2018 - heard it at storytime again, and brought it home again. Sherry's books really grow on me - enjoyable and simple at first glance, but they stand up to rereading. I still adore Turtle's faces, the little details in the illustrations, and those watercolor ocean scenes.
February 2018 - heard it at storytime again, and brought it home again. Sherry's books really grow on me - enjoyable and simple at first glance, but they stand up to rereading. I still adore Turtle's faces, the little details in the illustrations, and those watercolor ocean scenes.
madison_layne's review
3.0
The book was super cute. I enjoyed it, as did the kids. Its silly but also shows how important friends are.
chachacenteno's review
This book made a reading list for refugee children. I have questions...
1) Turtle Island is what some American Indians call North America 2) the tipi on the cover and last page, who does it belong to? 3) when the friends return, they arrive in a boat that resembles an English ship (Mayflower) 4) a new turtle arrives and has a castle on its back. What exactly inspired the way this story was written/illustrated? I'm choosing to not rate this title.
1) Turtle Island is what some American Indians call North America 2) the tipi on the cover and last page, who does it belong to? 3) when the friends return, they arrive in a boat that resembles an English ship (Mayflower) 4) a new turtle arrives and has a castle on its back. What exactly inspired the way this story was written/illustrated? I'm choosing to not rate this title.
sonshinelibrarian's review
4.0
This was cute. I liked the water color effect on the backgrounds. A sweet story that will probably call for rereadings from young children.
tashrow's review
4.0
The author of I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean returns with a picture book all about friendship. Turtle is very big but Turtle is also all alone and getting lonely. Then one day, a ship wrecked near him and he rescued a bear, an owl, a cat and a frog from the ocean waters. They climbed aboard his shell and Turtle supplied them with fish to eat. Happily, Owl could knit, Bear could build, Frog could cook, and Cat could draw. The four quickly went to work and created a home aboard Turtle. Turtle wasn’t lonely any more. One might think the book would end there, but instead the four smaller animals got very homesick and missed their families. They had to return home, leaving Turtle all alone in the big ocean again. What is a big lonely turtle to do, especially now that he realizes the importance of having good friends?
Sherry has a way with simple storytelling. He manages to convey complicated emotions using a combination of his storyline and his illustrations. Here the impact of having friends is looked at with humor and through a unique relationship of a huge turtle and characters riding on his back. It’s a very nice metaphor for needing to support friends in different ways.
As with all of Sherry’s books, his cartoony illustrations are child friendly and add to the humor. They keep this story from becoming overly sweet, showing goggle-eyed animals in different colors and always clearly showing that Turtle is simply huge.
Gently funny, simple and honest, this picture book is a friend to any story time on friendship or turtles. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
Sherry has a way with simple storytelling. He manages to convey complicated emotions using a combination of his storyline and his illustrations. Here the impact of having friends is looked at with humor and through a unique relationship of a huge turtle and characters riding on his back. It’s a very nice metaphor for needing to support friends in different ways.
As with all of Sherry’s books, his cartoony illustrations are child friendly and add to the humor. They keep this story from becoming overly sweet, showing goggle-eyed animals in different colors and always clearly showing that Turtle is simply huge.
Gently funny, simple and honest, this picture book is a friend to any story time on friendship or turtles. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
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