Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Turtle Bay
Illustrator: Nilesh Mistry
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 7
Frances Lincoln UK, 1998 ISBN: 978-0711211681
Taro loved to spend time with Jiro-San. The old man knew so much about the creatures of the sea and he showed Taro all sorts of treasures and taught him how to do so much. Taro’s sister Yuko thought Jiro-San was "weird" and told Taro how oddly he behaved. Nevertheless Taro still had faith in his friend and when Jiro-San told Taro that his "old friends" were coming Taro waited with great excitement to see who these old friends were.
Taro and Jiro-San saw all sorts of creatures and yet none of them were the special ones that the old man was waiting for. Then Jiro-San asked Taro to help him sweep the beach, to pick up all the trash left on the sand. For, as Jiro-San said, his friends would not come if the beach was littered with broken glass and other trash.
At last the "old friends" began to arrive and Taro saw that they were turtles. Soon Yuko too was helping to clean the beach so that the turtles could safely lay their eggs in the sand.
This charming little story shows readers how children can help animals in many ways. How a simple act of cleaning a beach can make the beach safe for turtles and other creatures to carry on with their lives. The author includes a section at the back of the book which explains how turtle species all over the world are endangered and how they need to be protected otherwise they will disappear altogether and be lost to us.
