Richard Buckley (1) (1938–)

A tortoise casts aside the safety of his shell to experience the world in a new way only to be beaten down by his fear of the dangers and chaos he finds.

So the awful lesson is never change -- embrace the status quo -- or you'll regret everything. What a foolish tortoise. What a foolish author.

Nice pictures though.

A turtle decides to leave his shell behind one day as it weighs him down, but then discovers all the ways the shell benefits him.

Featuring Eric Carle's distinctive collage work, the illustrations in this book are pure fun. The story itself is captivating enough, and Buckley uses beautiful poetry to tell it. The only downside to this is the possibility that the very young intended audience might not quite understand everything - it's probably confusing for them to hear passages in which nouns show more and verbs in a sentence are inverted to force a rhyme, especially given that they rarely hear such usage. The vocabulary choices are also sometimes more difficult in order to make passages alliterative (i.e., "A hare, a hound, a horse raced by") or to use some other poetic device. Still, I'm one to err on the side of presenting an introduction to something new that will expand young children's minds (and vocabularies), even if it means having to read the book more than once and provide some extra explanations/definitions. Using this method, I found that even my toddler class enjoyed this book and seemed to understand it.

This edition includes an audio CD of the book being read by Keith Nobbs. I did not find his reading to be particularly interesting; it was rather flat and monotone actually. Unlike many other audio CDs accompanying books for young readers, there were no cues for when to turn the page. This is something that tends to be very helpful for beginning readers (or non-readers who are working on pre-literacy skills), so I found that sadly lacking. show less

A snake eats an increasingly unlikely amount and increasingly unlikely forms of prey. Just weird enough to work.

And in addition to introducing carnivorism and different types of animals to little ones, it can be a counting book if you want.

There are two reasons why I love this book: the language and the illustrations by Eric Carle.
The language of this book is great because they rhyme. The pattern of the rhyming makes the book enjoyable and interesting. One example of this rhyming is “Took off his large and heavy shell and left it lying where it fell.” I liked that this book rhymes because it makes it fun to read. The language makes sense to the text while also being exciting. The author did a good job at using rhyming show more while also making the story progress. The language of the story makes it exciting, but it is also organized well.
The second reason I love this book is because of the pictures. The illustrations are detailed and fun. The illustrations are very colorful and are large on the pages which makes them exciting. They enhance the story well because each illustration details the text on the page. For example, when the book talks about a large snake creeping on the turtle, the illustration of the snake takes up two pages and is hissing. The style of the illustrations also fits the style of the written text. The text is upbeat and artistic and the pictures are, too. Eric Carle used his artistic style to accommodate the artistic attributes of the language used by the author. The illustrations play a good part in making this story great.
The main idea of this story is to accept who you are. Since the tortoise wants to become something it is not, a tortoise without a shell, it can teach readers to be happy with who they are. Once the tortoise does leave the shell behind, he runs into all different situations that he wishes he had his shell. For example, he was cold in the bad weather and had no protection from the hornet. By the end of the book, the tortoise realizes he is better with his shell and even though he is not fast, his shell has many benefits. This can teach readers to be happy with who they are and not to wish they were different. The tortoise teaches a good lesson about accepting yourself and using your faults as something positive. show less