Life Slow Lane: Desert Tortoise Tale

by Conrad J. Storad

Is life in the "slow lane" really better? Tortoises think so! Shelly the Tortoise and her Grandpa spend the day learning about their cousins (crocodiles), eating their favorite foods (prickly cactus and flowers) and losing races with jackrabbits. Life in the slow lane seems perfect - except for those homes and highways moving into the tortoises' habitat. How can people and tortoises really live together? Shelly and her Grandpa know the answer - do you? In delightful rhymed verse, Conrad J. Storad tells the story of the tortoise and explains how it has adapted to survive in the desert. Useful information about these amazing creatures appears at the end of the book. Nathan Jensen's illustrations of tortoises taking it easy - and one Type A rabbit who learns to slow down - add to the charm of this informative book for children. 4-8

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2005

Reviews

[Sierra Chandler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Life In The Slow Lane is about two tortoises in the desert. And how they're trying to stop the humans from going too fast and building and building over there home. They are slow unlike Jack Rabbit, they eat grasses, fleshy cactus pads, juicy cactus blossoms. I would recommend this book to second or third graders because if they are good readers this book would be an easy book for them to read. I also recommend this book to them because it is a friendly book and it is about not to rush things in life.

[Avery Schnitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Life in the Slow Lane is a way of showing how the human world is going to fast for animals to catch up.In the story they look at life the way a tortoise does, everyone is going way too fast and the author is trying to get to your emotions saying, slow down the world isn’t going to run away.
The book also points toward helping the environment not just yourself. Like in the factory world, birds are inhaling the gases which causes health problems. The author is obviously trying to use pathos or emotions to help you decide to help the environment and other animals not just the progression of humankind.

[Amrit Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about tortoise that want to take life slow. They eat cactus and how they store water and they think that all they do is relax and eat
I think this book is a okay because they show that how tortoise are lazy and all they do is eat and sleep and hide from predators. The pictures had good colors but they look like all they do is eat and sleep and that crocodiles are they’re cousins. I think that it’s not very realistic and how tortoise talk. Also that kids will start to think that animals talk.

[Kieran Cobb]

Life in the slow lane is about two tortoises living in the desert. And how their trying to stop the humans from going too fast and building over there home there slow unlike jack rabbit. They eat cactus pads juicy cactus blossoms. I would recommend this book to a second grader Because I think they would like this book. I also recommend this book because it is a nice book on not to rush things in life.

[Lino]

Turtles are slow. They eat cactus.
I like this book because it’s turtles and I like turtles and turtle eat so much the turtle eat cactus and drink a lot water. The turtles eat grasses and leaves and and turler digging.

[Lancee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life in the slow lane is a very popular children’s story that is an entertaining and informative tale about tortoises. The story explains the life of a tortoise including how they are built, what they eat, where they live, what their defense mechanism is, and what their past generations looked like. The main rhyme in the story is “It’s life in the slow lane, the slow life for me! The tortoise’s way is the best way to be!” The rhyming narration of the story is what makes the story entertaining and that makes the information so much more interesting.
The illustrations are what captured my attention when first opening the book. The idea of making illustrations so eye capturing in a children’s story is so that the child will stay interested and follow along with the story. If you notice, all of the colors used in the book are bright shades of each color used. The tan’s and brown’s used in the story are very prominent and the life like detail used in the illustrations only bring out the color even more. The use of shading on the characters and the scenery make for a 3D effect in the illustrations. The characters seem like they are right there in front of you.
There use of the rhyming slogan used in the beginning and the end of the story represent an intro and a conclusion that tie the entire story together. All the information that shelly learned from her grandfather had a positive impact on her. You could see that what the author was informing the reader about was summed up by shelly in a catchy rhyme that was used as her way of expressing how proud she was of her background as a tortoise. The plot of the story was clearly to inform young readers about new animals that they may have not known about and the story executes that purpose beautifully.
The characters in the story also made an impact on the reader but the development of character was not direct. The developing character was actually a tortoise in general. The life and characteristics being described were helping the reader to better understand the character of a tortoise. The goal of the story was to inform the reader of the animal’s life and characteristics so that the reader would have a better understanding of the animal. There are many different aspects of the book that make this story very popular and intriguing to young readers.

[Andre Kalberer]

Life In The Slow Lane is about two tortoises in the desert.They eat flowers cactuses and pads and fried cactuses.They walk really slow unlike jack rabbits.I would recommend it to a third or 2nd grades because they like to read small books.