Prolific picture-book author and artist Jim Arnosky, who has created so many engaging works of natural history for young children, turns to the turtle in this sixth entry in his All About... series, intended to introduce youngsters to different categories of animal. Reptiles with shells, turtles live in a variety of habitats, from fresh and saltwater, to land. There are more than two hundred turtle species, worldwide, and Arnosky highlights a number of them. He also discusses their anatomy, their feeding habits, and their reproductive cycles. In the end, he concludes that they are survivors, creatures that have flourished since the time of the dinosaurs...

Like so many of Arnosky's books, I found All About Turtles both informative and engaging, appreciating the information being imparted, and enjoying the gorgeous watercolor artwork. I learned a few new things - I never knew that turtle shells were so sensitive, embedded with so many nerves, or that the bottom part of a turtle's shell (the plastron) is convex in females, and concave in males - and think that young children will as well. That said, I did feel that Arnosky missed an opportunity here to clarify the terms turtle, tortoise and terrapin, which would have been helpful. He does use the word tortoise, when discussing the gopher tortoise, but he doesn't explicitly state that tortoises are the subgroup of turtles that live on land, just as terrapins are the subgroup that live in fresh water. That was a disappointment, as was the lack of further reading ideas, something I always miss, in the books in this series. Leaving that aside, this was still an engaging book, and is one I would recommend to young animal lovers, and to picture-book readers interested in turtles. ( )

Science
Facts about turtles and sea turtles

This was a great informational picture book. The illustrations were very helpful when learning about the different kinds of turtles. There was great detail in this book. There wasn't a plot in this picture book, but it is a great book to introduce to students during a science class, or just for fun! It is a good example of how to do a research writing assignment, maybe for older students. I really enjoyed learning about a topic that I knew very little about. This book was written in third person, and was very easy to follow along. Organized in a great way. ( )

This book explains everything about land dwelling, freshwater and sea turtles (shells, habitat, food, eggs)

Book Patch Library JBLM

This is an informational book for children of all ages to learn about the different species of turtles, what they eat, and where they live.