The Book Of Turtles

Melissa Stewart, in her book “𝟱 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻” challenges the assumption that children lean towards narrative nonfiction. She highlights how children often take an efferent stance on reading (Louise Rosenblatt’s Transactional Theory of Reading), i.e. reading for learning and retaining information and makes a case study on why we should have a sizeable number of expository nonfiction books in our class libraries.

If you are looking at adding to this collection, I highly recommend “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀” by Sy Montgomery & Matt Patterson. While young readers will soak in the knowledge of turtles and savour the gorgeous illustrations, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. Sy Montgomery uses this strategy skillfully by keeping the limelight on the turtle’s shell. Page after page, the reader is drawn back to the shell of the turtle, all while getting more information on the creature – “…𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦”, “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦”, “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦…”

Perfect for all ages, great mentor text for Grades 3 and above.