Turtle Tide: The Ways of Sea Turtles

by Stephen R. Swinburne, Bruce Hiscock (Illustrator)

Overview

A mother turtle swims to shore. She digs a hole in a dune where she lays one hundred eggs. Following her instinct, she covers the eggs with sand and slowly makes her way back to sea. What happens next, from eggs to hatchlings, is one of the most extraordinary occurrences in nature. For the eggs provide food for other animals, and the eggs that survive produce hatchlings that, again, provide food for birds and crabs. Even those hatchlings that make it to the ocean face an uncertain future. Lyrical text and dramatic paintings give young readers an understanding of how turtles give birth and how the young fight for survival in this winner of the Maryland Blue Crab Young Readers' Award.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590788271
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,133,499
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Stephen R. Swinburne is the author of many books, including Wiff and Dirty George: The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident. He lives in South Londonderry, Vermont.

Bruce Hiscock has written and illustrated many books for children that deal with nature and wildlife. He lives in Porter Corners, New York.

Editorial Reviews

"Hiscock's watercolors illuminate each step along the way in fascinating detail, providing the hook that will lure readers into wanting more. . . . A satisfying introduction to endangered animals, the food chain and the intrepid Atlantic sea turtle by a National Park Service Ranger and author of many other nature titles." —Kirkus Reviews


"A great addition to any collection of library books on reptiles, turtles, and environmental problems." —Library Media Connection

"Well done and worth reading - and the lovely, full-page watercolors are as powerful as the concise text." —Science Books & Films

From the Publisher

Gr 3-5-Simple, lyrical prose accompanies brilliant watercolors in this account of a nesting loggerhead turtle and her hatchlings. Swinburne describes the decimation of the eggs and the new hatchlings by raccoons, ghost crabs, a heron, a shark, and some gulls, until only one turtle is left to carry on to adulthood. Hiscock's sand- and sea-toned illustrations are eye-catching and match the text well. Two appended pages give more information on marine turtles and the dangers they face, and why we know so little about their far-ranging lives. Gail Gibbons's Sea Turtles (Holiday House, 1995) is a more general introduction, and Bianca Davies's handsome One Tiny Turtle (Candlewick, 2001) offers a glimpse at the possible maturing life of one of the ones that got away.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

An Atlantic sea turtle struggles ashore to lay her eggs in the sand in this handsomely illustrated picture-book treatment. The tiny turtles, on hatching, struggle to avoid predators; raccoons, ghost grabs, blue herons, sand sharks and laughing gulls diminish the 100 eggs to a single surviving hatchling swimming off into the red gold sea. Hiscock's watercolors illuminate each step along the way in fascinating detail, providing the hook that will lure readers into wanting more. And the backmatter provides information about ocean turtle species and suggested reading. A satisfying introduction to endangered animals, the food chain and the intrepid Atlantic sea turtle by a National Park Service Ranger and author of many other nature titles. (Nonfiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews