children's book about a lonely turtle from the 1950s or 1960s

I had this book as a child in the early 1960's. It was a green hardcover book about a turtle who goes out into the forest looking for a friend. He finds several different kinds of animals and asks each one if he/she will be his friend. He makes several new friends, but he's still lonely. Then one day he meets a girl turtle. I remember she had long, curly eyelashes. After meeting the girl turtle, he isn't lonely anymore. I was very fond of this book as a child, but can't remember much more about it anymore. Although I still have a number of books from my childhood, this book was lost a long time ago. I've been trying to find a copy of it for over 20 years through the internet and used book stores- difficult without a title or author! Does anyone know the title or author of this book?

There's a picture book called "The Lonely Little Turtle" by Marie Angela Battersby, but it seems to take place in the ocean, not the forest. An eBay listing for it cites the initial publication date as 1940, but the Google Books listing says 1953. There are only 4 copies listed in WorldCat, all of which reside in British libraries. (Can you tell that I'm bored at work today?) :) Here's a link to the only photo I could find: http://i18.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/ed/90/fea2_1.JPG.
I hope that's it...good luck either way!

Thanks for your response. I've found information on that one, but it's not the same book. I think the turtle in the book I remember was a box turtle. I'm sure it was a land turtle though. I can still picture some of the illustrations. At the end when he finds the girl turtle, the other animals he makes friends with are in the illustration. I remember birds and butterflies in that picture too.

I realize this is a very old thread.

I'm 99% sure that the book is called "Pinky the Turtle" or possibly "Binky the Turtle". It was one of the first books my mother checked out for me at the local library back in the early 1960s. I've tried several times over the years to locate a copy but never succeeded, nor have I been able to determine who the author was. Your story summary helped me remember how the story ended - thank you.

Interesting how a book from childhood can still have meaning so many years later.

I know this topic is pretty old, but I just came across this thread looking for the same book. I also had it as a child, it was about a little turtle named pinkie who kept coming up to the forest animals asking them to play, but they all were playing with their own species. They all got together and found a girl turtle for Pinkie to play with. I found a picture of what I think is the same book on here. Hope this helps! https://www.librarything.com/work/3237587/summary

Yes! That's it - "Pinky"! I didn't see your reply, Otucha, until I was searching for the book again, and my search brought me back to this thread. As soon as I saw an image of the cover (green-cover edition,) I recognized everything. I am so excited. I found it on eBay with the same cover as the book.I had, and ordered it. The title was the missing link. Thank you, thank you!

You are correct, kittykai! Thank you so much! Now that I have the title, I was able to find a copy with the green cover I remember. I just ordered it. Can't tell you how happy I am to be reunited with my favorite early-childhood book.