Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! Spiral-Bound | 2010-02-01

School Library Journal
Dangers threaten the survival of sea turtles at every stage of their lives. In this newly illustrated version of a 2000 book of the same title, beautiful pictures in watercolor, gouache, and pastels illustrate many of these risky situations, and the narrative describes how people are working to minimize these threats. The title is repeated on many of the double-page descriptions: a new hatchling is attracted to the porch light--"Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! Small hands switch off the light," so that the baby turtle changes direction away from the house and toward the moonlight on the water. Other dangers are natural--the night herons and raccoons alert to the scrambling hatchlings, hungry fish awaiting the tiny babies tumbling in the currents. People's life-saving actions are described or shown, e.g., reaching out of a boat into the water to retrieve a plastic bag that could choke a feeding turtle. The illustrations are soft-toned but dramatically interpret such dangers as the looming cat on the beach, menacing sharks, and confining fishing nets. A two-page description of how people throughout the world are helping the seven endangered species of sea turtles survive and the thumbnail sketches of these species provide background. A good read-aloud or read-along choice for environmental awareness.

The Horn Book Magazine
Very few sea turtles survive to adulthood, given the risks to them as eggs on the beach, as new hatchlings in their first trek toward the waves, and as ocean-dwellers swimming amongst predators and humans' garbage. This turtle is one of the fortunate ones, thanks to the assistance of concerned humans, whose actions introduce readers to the coastal volunteers who protect turtle nests and keep hatchlings safe on their first walk to the sea. Readers will be drawn in by Turtle's newborn awkwardness, captured adroitly by Patterson's softly colored realistic illustrations, and will rally to her cause through the text's repeated use of the title warning at the appearance of each threat. Turtle soldiers on through a world of grainy gray-blues at the nighttime beach and the light-filtered green-blue of the ocean, matures into a graceful adult who finds a mate, then returns to her birth beach to lay her own eggs. Appended is information about the seven species of sea turtle (all rare and in danger of extinction) and worldwide conservation efforts to help them.

NSTA Recommends
After hundreds of thousands of years, sea turtle species are facing extinction. Shoreline construction, commercial fishing, and pollution all threaten their survival. The challenges and dangers that sea turtles face are dramatized in this story; the illustrator beautifully captures the vulnerability and splendor of these endangered animals.

This NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2011 provides not only accurate science but the compelling emotional argument for efforts to preserve the species. This book could introduce a unit on sea turtles or motivate students to follow the migration of the Loggerheads online ("The Great Turtle Race"). The life cycle of turtles like the Green provides a great lesson. The effects of pollution (including lights) can easily be introduced into the discussions that will inevitably follow sharing this great book.