Product Description

Clee is none too happy over the birth of her brother but Uncle Hal surprises her with a turtle who's jumped tank one time too many. When the turtle disappears during a particularly harsh winter, Clee fears the worst. A sensitive tale about the long sleep of winter and the rebirth that comes with spring. • An ABA "Pick of the Lists" book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #872954 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Released on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .81 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3?A young girl learns much about the natural world through her experiences over the course of an eventful year. When summer brings a baby brother and a turtle, Clee is more eager to welcome the pet than the sibling. A gift from her uncle, it helps her adjust to the idea of the baby and to the job offer that takes her father far from home. As the months pass and summer turns to autumn, Clee enjoys spending time outdoors with the turtle. After she leaves it outside on a cold autumn evening and thinks it is dead, she buries it deep in the family's backyard compost heap and tries to put aside her memories and guilt. Throughout the winter, the child watches the snow pile up outside her home and the baby learns to roll, sit up, and crawl. With the arrival of spring, as Clee plays with her brother in their sandbox, they spy the awakening turtle emerge from his winter nap. Turtle Spring is a lovely introduction to the concept of hibernation and a gentle look at the bonds that grow between siblings. The lyrical text is perfect for reading aloud and abounds with imagery. The illustrations, reminiscent of Jane Dyer's watercolor hues, beautifully reflect the changing seasons. An author's note gives brief information about Clee's turtle (a Red-eared Slider), the process of hibernation, and composting.?Maura Bresnahan, Topsfield Town Library, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 4^-6. Clee is not particularly enamored of her new baby brother, so she is happy when her uncle brings her a large turtle. As the winter winds grow harsh, the turtle tends to disappear under the leaves for a nap. Clee's mother warns that a southern breed of turtle should be taken indoors, but Clee forgets until she finds the turtle dead in the compost heap. The rest of the winter passes with snow, ice, and lacy frost on the windows. Slowly but surely, spring arrives, and with the warm weather comes a wonderful surprise--Clee's turtle had only been hibernating. Unlike so many picture books, this has a real plot: Clee loses her turtle but finds a warm delight in her baby brother, and then she has both of them to love. The icing is the poetic text, which will delight both listeners and readers. Sentences such as "In November, the house was full of baby," "The countryside was paper white," and "Winter gardens were written with mittens and boots on a pad of snow," put the text a cut above more mundanely told stories. Zagwyn's watercolor artwork is also quite special, capturing many moods, from cabin fever to the joyousness of springtime rebirth--and for very observant lap sitters, a glimpse of the turtle in the compost mound. A pleasure to read aloud and to look at. A note tells readers about red-eared slider turtles. Ilene Cooper

From Kirkus Reviews
Klee feels like a lost moon as crowds of relatives orbit around her new brother's crib. But one relative, Uncle Fishtank Hal, understands how she feels. He brings her a present, a Red-eared Slider turtle. ``She ain't a gift for a baby,'' he says. ``She's too big and would only pinch it.'' The turtle becomes Klee's anchor when her father takes off for an extended job away from home, leaving her mother preoccupied with the baby and house. But when cold weather comes, the turtle makes an escape, and Klee finds it in the compost heap, stone cold, its head and feet pulled into its shell. Assuming it is dead, she sadly buries it deep in the pile and retreats to the house, and through a long snowy winter gradually warms to her little brother. In the spring, both children are surprised and delighted when the turtle emerges alive and well from the steaming compost pile. This lovely, unusual book elicits interest on many levels. The lyrical text compactly weaves human emotions, the cycle of the seasons, and the phenomenon of hibernation into a coherent whole. Fluid watercolor illustrations in glowing jewel tones ably capture both changing seasons and changing moods. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.