Old Turtle: Questions of the Heart, written by Douglas Wood, reviewed by Caroline Rabideau

Summary: A tale has been passed down through generations of a large turtle who has survived through the years and gained infinite wisdom, but the turtle's location has been lost through time. The curious villagers reach out to an elderly woman who's grandma, it is told, once found the turtle. Together the village people set off on a journey to find the turtle, who will answer their questions about life. What is play, what is love, what is death? Then, at the end of the book, the turtle challenges the future generation: "Who are you," and answers the question by saying "we give our answer each and every day... in all that we do, and in all the choices we make. Our answer is there in the ways that we treat one another, in the courage we must find to face a challenge." 

Straight Talk for Librarians: This book reminded me of stories of the Oracle of Delphi, a figure known for having all the answers to any question imaginable. While I think the answers given by the turtle were very deep, honest, and thought-provoking, I think this book would be more appealing to older students, as I think little ones would not be able to follow along. I can imagine using this book as a writing assignment, giving students a challenging question, and asking them how the turtle would answer. Or you could turn it into an interview: who is your turtle? Who is someone in your life who gives fantastic advice? Think of a challenging question, and ask them what their advice might be. The pictures were beautiful. There is a note on the cover that "the illustrations were drawn with graphite pencils on Strathmore 400 series drawing paper and then combined with layers of scanned watercolor to create the final digital paintings." I think this could be a very interesting art lesson, combining watercolor painting, sketching, technology, and a little planning of colors and shadow. Overall, I think it was an interesting book. I think, in a library setting,

students would pick it up because the illustrations are beautiful, and that would spark their interest.