BOOK REVIEW - Tuke: The Specialist Turtle

Tuke: The Specialist Turtle, by Jim Ritterhoff and Melissa Tomjanovich, with illustrations  by Tory Novikova

Bug found this book in the living room and immediately started to review it himself.  He looked at every page, fascinated by the colorful illustrations of sea creatures living around a coral reef in the Caribbean.  

Bug: "There's a sea turtle!"

Bug: "There's an octopus!  Did you know an octopus has stingers?!?"

Bug: "Look at all these rays!  Can a stingray sting you, too?!?"

Bug: "A whale!"

So, we sat down and read the words in the book, too.

Tuke, a cute little turtle, struggles to find acceptance from the other creatures in his sea home.  He gets picked up by some researchers and then returns to the sea, continuing his quest for praise and love.

Will he or any other creature ever realize how special he really is?

SPOILER ALERT

Yes.

But I will let you read the book to find out how.

This book is worth checking out for its illustrations and the valuable message about the importance of sea life and conservancy.  The writing is, at times, a little awkward in its attempts to maintain a rhythm and rhyme.  But, for what it's worth, Bug loves the book and wanted to take it everywhere we went last weekend.

*Chowder, Inc. provided me a copy of this book to review.*

Jinxing it

Squish woke up crying the other "morning" (at about 4, which hardly feels like morning).  When my husband wasn't able to soothe him, I picked up dear little Squish and said, "Do you want to go rock in the rocking chair?"

He said, "yeah."

So, to the rocking chair we went.  After some calm rocking and quiet snuggles, Squish seemed restless again.

I cannot for the life of me remember why, but that was when I went to the couch.  Perhaps it was simply a desperate attempt to lie down again.  The rocking chair is nice, but when it's still dark outside, lying down to sleep is nicer.

COMMUNITY NEWS: Habana Outpost - 2013 Kid's Corner Schedule

Just got a note with the following schedule for the summer at Habana Outpost - enjoy!

Germs: friends or foes? (or, ten minutes in the life)

When I arrived at Bug's side of the playground (the "big kid" side), one of his new little friends approached me with her recently common refrain: "Can I come to [Bug's] house?"

Most days I say, "Oh, sure.  I will drop a note in your cubby, and then we can find a good time for you to come over."

Lately, I also have to add, "Remind me again.  I will put the note in your cubby next time!"

Yesterday, I realized it was time to make good on my promise to this little Friend-o-Bug.  So I said, "I will go write a note and put it your cubby now.  Then, [Bug], I will come back to get you and we'll go home.  You have four more minutes to play."

Squish and I went into Bug's classroom.  I stole a piece of paper from the teachers, which hardly seemed the ethical choice, but desperate times . . .

I wrote a note for Friend-o-Bug's  parents/guardians, whom I have never met, hoping they would not be put off by the oversized blue marker I had to use to introduce myself via their child's cubby.  But desperate times . . .

Note safely tucked into Friend-o-Bug's cubby, I looked to Squish, who had decided the little water fountain in Bug's classroom was where it's at. 

I said, "Okay [Squish], let's go get [Bug]!"

As I was walking away from the water fountain and toward the playground, one of Bug's classmates came in with her mom.

This little classmate washed her hands (as instructed by her mom).  Then she left the sink and headed toward the dramatic play area. 

Before she could get very far, her mom said, "Don't touch anything!!!"

I thought to myself, "Ah, yesssssss, the Germs . . . well, time to get [Squish] and [Bug] and get out of this Petri dish masquerading as Pre-K . . ."

I turned back to Squish - still at the water fountain - now alternating between splashing his hands in the water that had pooled by the water fountain drain and stretching his little body as long as possible so that he could get his mouth to cover the spout.

Bounce

Today, the four of us went to a birthday party for one of Bug's best friends.  All in a backyard with an inflatable kiddie pool, burgers, hot dogs, chips, drinks and an enormous Bouncy .

It was wonderful. 

Soon enough Squish wanted to climb in, and who am I to deny a toddler his time in a Bouncy?

I went in with him thinking my presence would create a protective aura - preventing any young pirates from tumbling into or over the little squish in what felt like a bouncy field.