23rd May World Turtle Day

Around the world there are many animals close to extinction. One group particularly under threat are sea turtles. In Woody Bramble's Sea Turtles On the Edge readers learn how sea turtles  are threatened and what is being done to help them survive. The photo on the cover ensures thatches book is often on loan from the library. Turtles interest young children and there are plenty of books designed to keep them reading about them. See Pinterest

In the last year though, three books have been published about a 'famous' loggerhead turtle, Yoshi  who has made her home on the north western coast of Australia after a very long swim. Yoshi was released off the Cape Town coast in 2017 by Two Oceans Aquarium, an institution who had cared for her for twenty years since she was given to the aquarium in 1997 by a Japanese fishing boat captain because she was injured. 

With modern satellite tracking technology in collaboration with the government and donors, Two Oceans Aquarium was able to follow along with Yoshi to map her progress and understand the sights she saw along the way. In her swim was equivalent to nearly 1.5 million lengths of a 25m Olympic size swimming pool.

Kids News has an entry about Yoshi that gives students the information in a factual manner, but these three books give students the facts embedded in a narrative and with beautiful illustrations. 'Discover an amazing story celebrating teamwork, science, and an animal hero who swam more than 22,000 miles to her true home--the longest journey of any animal ever tracked. In addition to being awe-inspiring, Yoshi's story underlines the importance of wildlife conservation and the power of one animal to unite people around the world for a common cause.' This could be the blurb for all three!

• Yoshi and the Ocean by Lindsay Moore

• Yoshi's Big Swim  by Mary Warley Copp and Kaja Kajfez 

• Yoshi Sea Turtle Genius  by Lynne Cox and Richard Jones 

The library is well-equipped with 'true' animal stories. These are  a great way to show students what is happening in the world to save animals from harm.

23rd May World Turtle Day

It’s easy to get confused between a tortoise and turtle. The main difference between the two is that turtles sometimes live in the water, while tortoises only live on the land. Turtles live up to the age of 40 and have streamlined and mostly flat shells. On the other hand, tortoises can live up to 300 years and they have larger, more domed shells. You will mostly find turtles in the sea, while tortoises inhabit dense jungles and grasslands. Turtles and tortoises are two different animals but this day is dedicated to celebrating and protecting both.

I have written about this day before here and here, but in our school library this is a day when no matter what I put on display, the books all seem to get borrowed. This topic is nearly as popular as polar bears and pandas so the library has a number of fiction and nonfiction titles. See my Pinterest page. The book pictured A Turtle's View of the Ocean Blue  by Catherine Barr and Brendan Kearney is truly inspiring and fairly new so if you are short of turtle books, consider this one. The day after Turtle Day Lindsay Moore's new book, Yoshi and the Ocean will be released. It is based on a real turtle who was released from captivity in South Africa, but then was tracked travelling thousands of miles. What amazing creatures turtles are!

If tortoises are of more interest, two must reads are Jean Craighead George's  Galapagos George (also based on a real creature) or Paul Geraghty's Tortuga are worth hunting for in a library.