New Release Spotlight: Tino Turtle

Tino Turtle Travels to London, England & Tino Turtle Travels to Paris, France by Carolyn L. Ahern, Illustrated by Neallia Burt Sullivan

Tino is happy with his life as a desert turtle, except for one thing—he wants to travel the world. And thanks to the magic of his Fairy God Turtle, he can, and kids can travel the world with him. In Carolyn L. Ahern’s series of pictures books featuring Tino the Turtle, kids can trek around the globe with the charming turtle, learning about different cultures, people, cities, and countries along the way. Famous landmarks and tourist sites are included in Tino’s travels, and tidbits of information about architecture, art, forms of government, language, and history are tucked in throughout the storyline. For example, when Tino travels to London, not only will readers learn about double-decker buses, the River Thames, and Big Ben, but they will also learn about the prime minister and see what exactly a Tudor style house looks like. In Tino Turtle Travels to Paris, France, French phrases are sprinkled throughout the text, and children can learn about such famous places as the Luxembourg Palace, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre.

The Tino Turtle series is a great way to teach children about other countries, but Tino also teaches readers about another important subject—friendship. In each country that Tino travels to, he makes friends with local children. He visits their classroom, visits their homes, and they show him the local sites. And when Tino returns home, his fondest memories are of the friends he has made.

The illustrations by Neallia Bart Sullivan truly help Tino, and the countries that he travels to, come alive. Drawn in a delightful cartoonish style, Tino is a cuddly reptile who always has a camera around his neck and a baseball cap on his head. The bright colors of the illustrations are attractive to the reader, and the detail given to each illustration will provide plenty to explore and discover on every page.

Each book is accompanied by an audio CD that includes a telling of the story and a special song written about Tino’s latest adventure. All in all, the Tino Turtle series will entertain and delight children to the very last page, all the while teaching them along the way.

Review by Katrina Hill, Indigo Editing, LLC
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ISBN: England: 0979315808, France: 0979315816

Publisher: Tino Turtle Travels, LLC

Pub. Date: England: June, 2007, France: September 2007

Hardcover, $17.95 each