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Ridiculous!

HB; Large format, no writing, binding tight and intact, cover shows very minimal wear, beautiful illustrations. Excellent gift quality copy! Customer Satisfaction Gauranteed!

24 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

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About the author

Michael Coleman

268 books15 followers
Coleman was born in Forest Gate, a suburb in east London. Not long after he was born, his family moved a few miles east to Barking. At the time of his arrival, the area was just starting to recover from the damage it had received during World War II. He lived in a house on Bevan Avenue, named after Aneurin Bevan the architect of the National Health Service. He lived in that estate for 20 years. The area helped develop Coleman's love of sport due to the oblong shaped lanes of grass leading up the estate, which could be used as mini-stadiums. He pretended to play at various sporting events of the time, e.g. the Melbourne Olympics of 1956, the soccer Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, and the games at Lords Cricket ground. He still has medals he won for being school champion in the 100m sprint and the long jump. As said by Coleman himself "My information series Foul Football tries to convey some of the magic I felt about the game of soccer by relating the weird and wonderful history of the game and the personalities it has seen over the years. On the fiction side, my series about a junior soccer team called Angels FC tries to bring out the humour and sheer fun that you’ll find at the heart of the game when it’s played by youngsters who don’t even know how to spell the word cynicism." Coleman had his first children’s book published when he was 46 years of age. He has also said: "I didn't [want to become a writer] at first. I used to teach computer science at a university and my first book was a boring one about computers. I livened it up by putting a few jokes in. At the end I thought I'd try writing a few more things, but this time forgetting about the computers and concentrating on the jokes. After lots of failures I realised that youngsters enjoy jokes more than adults and started writing for them. Eighty books later, I'm still doing it...I write both fact and fiction. The Foul Football series are favourite fact books, simply because they're about football. On the fiction side, I'm just finishing a trilogy called The Bearkingdom. They're dark and scary, quite different to anything I've written before."

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5 stars
136 (30%)
4 stars
148 (32%)
3 stars
132 (29%)
2 stars
29 (6%)
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6 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,927 reviews314 followers
June 17, 2023
FOMO drives a young tortoise to ignore her parents' advice and venture out into the winter snow instead of hibernating. Other animals ridicule her choice, but Shelley Tortoise gets the last laugh when she shows them all up with her mad snowboarding skillz. And with that flash of rebellion she immediately conforms to expectations.

Sounds like most people's lives . . .
Profile Image for Breanne.
592 reviews191 followers
July 10, 2015
I read another children's books....I really need to get back to reading YA.
Profile Image for Andrea.
1,125 reviews10 followers
February 9, 2019
This was okay, not great but not bad either. Overall it was cute but it was over so quickly and didn't have the ending I was expecting. It's shorter than the average kid's book and I could feel it as I thought more would happen as it was wrapping up. There was also an element of repetition that I don't like in books, with each new character saying the same lines so it gets old fast.

All of the animals said "A tortoise out in winter? Ridiculous!" and then laughed in whatever speech they have. So the duck went "Ha-quack-ha!" And the dog said "Ha-woof-ha!" The cat said "Ha-meow-ha!" The bird said "Ha-cheep-ha!"

The illustrations were okay, not really to my liking though. They're really simple drawings, a loose, sketchy style that I don't really like but they're not bad.

It was amusing that Shelley's parents were telling her it was time for bed now that winter was here, and she said she wasn't sleepy and didn't want to go to bed. She asked why tortoises sleep for the winter and it was just like a human kid, always questioning things.

Mr. Tortoise fell asleep and not long after Mrs. Tortoise fell asleep, and it was funny that not long after that Shelley left to see what winter was like. As soon as she did she met a duck that said it was ridiculous for a tortoise to be outside. The duck challenged her to break through the ice with a beak to get food like he can.

A dog told her to keep warm by running around like he can, and the image showed 5 blurred dog images as he ran around. That was pretty comical as was the disconcerted look on Shelley's face as she watched. But I thought a dog would have a better thing to do than running around to stay warm. Just running through the snow would have been enough.

There was a cat who climbed a tree to get away from the dog, and the cat was huge! Like colossal, and it looked exactly like the cat from Alice in Wonderland. Her dare was for Shelley to run inside a warm house as fast as she can. I expected a better ability from a cat, because that wasn't very good.

A bird told her to fly home and cuddle up with her family. Shelley said she couldn't fly, when she can't even hop. She started to cry thinking of her family, announced that they're all right and a tortoise out in winter is ridiculous. That was sad and I felt bad for her.

Idk what I expected to happen next, but it's not what did happen. I guess I thought she would realize her purpose, but crazily enough, she slid on some ice and ended up playing out the actions of all the other animals better than they did. She ended up falling down the hill faster than the dog could run, faster than a cat. Then she hit a bump and went flying in the air like a bird. The illustrations had shown the dog watching her, and the cat watching her, dismayed. But it didn't show the bird. What's up with that? If all the other animals were going to watch her beating them, why didn't the bird see her fly??

She landed back at the pond where she'd started, where the duck laughed at her for not being able to break the ice that had covered the hole in her shed. Shelley realized she could break the ice using her shell, so somehow with her walking forward she was able to build up enough momentum to break through the ice... I didn't even understand how ice had formed over the hole in the wall anyway..I was disappointed in her grand purpose. But the picture of her tumbling through the air with legs splayed out and ice flying around her was funny.

Her parents were sleeping in a big wooden house each, and I was wondering why they were doing that because tortoises wouldn't live inside a shed in real life. They should have been in their natural homes. But anyway, her mom heard her and asked if she'd been outside. Shelley was like "A tortoise out in winter? Ridiculous!" which was supposed to be funny that she used the same line everyone had been using on her, but she should have been honest and said she had gone outside and experienced winter like she'd wanted to, and she survived. That would have proved to her parents that she did have abilities even in the winter. But the whole thing kind of proved her parents right because she ended up falling asleep and the whole time she was realizing what she couldn't do, she couldn't do any of what the other animals could. And her strength ended up being something totally random that turtles aren't known for, it's not an ability they have, and no one would expect...for them to use their shell to break through ice so they can get into a home they wouldn't even have in the first place.

It missed the mark but I guess it shows kids that even though you can't do what other people can, you can find the one thing that you can do. That's about the only takeaway, and there was some slight humor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Lynn.
3,433 reviews69 followers
December 16, 2021
Cute book that the kids enjoyed. Teaches animals and that turtles hibernate.
12 reviews
November 6, 2012
This story was about a tortoise called Shelley who couldn't understand why tortoises hibernate during the winter. Shelley's parents tell her it is ridiculous and that she should go sleep, but she waits until her parents are asleep to explore what outside is like. She meets several characters and soon realises that tortoises are not meant to be outside and that her parents were right, for instance a duck has a beak to break through the ice to get food and a dog can run around fast to keep warm. She stumbles and falls down the hill and ends up back at home.

This story reinforces the fact that parents are right about most things but also that through curiosity and exploration she learns something new. The repetition of the word "ridiculous" would be suitable for younger children to be read to in Nursery and Reception and children could read this by themselves or with support in Year 1. The story is good for talking about animals, their characteristics, different habits that they survive in and about why some animals hibernate during the winter.

Personally I think the book is average, the illustration is of good quality but there is not much variety from page to page.
12 reviews
April 25, 2014
One day during the winter hibernation, Shelley the tortoise decided to go out and see what was winter was like, even though Mum and Dad told her not to. Shelley waited for them to fall asleep and then left her warm and cosy shed. Shelley then goes on a journey and meets some animals along the way who all laugh at her and tell her how ridiculous it is that a tortoise is out in winter. Near the end of her journey, once all the other animals have laughed at Shelley and told her repeatedly how ridiculous it is for a tortoise to be out in winter Shelley becomes upset and falls down a hill and ends up back at her warm and cosy shed.

I think this book would be good to have in a nursery and reception class as there is a lot of repetition of the word ridiculous so children can join in throughout the story. As the story is set during winter as well the book could be used to talk about different seasons and which animals hibernate and which animals do not.
Profile Image for Heather.
938 reviews
February 9, 2019
It shows the tortoises in wooden boxes, and I wondered where they got those at. It turns out they’re living in someone’s shed, and there just happens to be three boxes for each tortoise to sleep in. It implies that the homeowner made the boxes and knows there are three turtles in his shed, and is okay with them hibernating there all winter. I guess he doesn't need that space in the shed...

The cat looked entirely too like the Cheshire cat in Alice and Wonderland. It was oversized, and had a big smile in a big face. It seemed to be modeled after that cat. It was also way bigger than the dog for some reason.

The turtle has thoughts, but they’re put in quotations like he’s saying them out loud. Unless he was thinking out loud.

It was really unexpected how the turtle would end up proving all the animals wrong. She hit a patch of ice, and went faster than the dog or cat, and hit a bump and flew like a bird.
She ends up sliding across the pond and landing in front of the shed, but it’s covered up with ice. It’s very unrealistic that it would ice over in the minutes or hours Shelley was gone, yet wasn’t iced over before, considering how much snow is on the ground. It was done for convenience sake so she could leave the shed without trouble.
The duck heckles her again, saying she doesn’t have a beak to break through the ice with. This is when Shelley realizes she does have a shell she can break the ice with. So she bursts through the shed, back into her home.

The noise wakes her mom up, who asks if she was outside. She replies with “a tortoise out in winter?” and falls asleep before she can say “ridiculous.” It was sort of cute to end on the theme that’s been in the entire book, with everyone saying ridiculous to a tortoise being outside in winter. But it became repetitive after a few times.
I was also a little disappointed in the ending. I was expecting the tortoise to find her purpose outside, which she sort of did, learning what she could do similar to the other animals in here, and was able to get back at all the animals who made fun of her, but I just expected more out of the ending.
I didn’t like how she didn’t tell her mom she was outside. Or that she didn’t really have an adventure and enjoy winter. If she hadn’t accidentally fallen, I don’t know what would have happened. It was more about proving people wrong, and it seemed like there also could have been some fun involved, too. Tortoises don't belong out in winter, and she discovered that, but I thought she'd end up finding a purpose or find she could go outside in the winter and would enjoy it.
Maybe the lesson was realizing where you belong, or home and family.

The illustrations were cute. Shelley was cute when she slid down the hill, in the one frame with the dog. Her limbs are sticking out, her eyes are wide, and her boggin is flying in the wind. She was also cute when she came busting into the shed at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
977 reviews
December 21, 2021
A Silly snowy Day by Michael
This is fun and silly book. Turtle wants do things without his shell, because it's too heavy and too hot.
He tries swimming without it and the fish want to eat him. He tries sledding without his shell. He tries sunbathing without his shell and he gets a sunburn. He also tries to run a race. He finds he needs his shell for many things. Read the book and find out what funny things he does without his shell.
Profile Image for Sarah.
1,761 reviews35 followers
December 31, 2023
*The last few months of the year I've been "superhero'ed" out, so I know I won't make my usual 200-book goal unless I get creative. And by that, I mean children's books. I'm a librarian, so it's good for me to have some kids' books in my repertoire, too, right? (Okay, I might be slightly cheating, but... some of the kids' books I've read, I've really enjoyed, so I'm actually glad for a reason to cheat, lol).*

Cute. Didn’t wow me, but it was a perfectly fine children’s story.
Profile Image for Christine Grant.
1,951 reviews10 followers
January 7, 2019
Hibernation Story Time. It's time for Shelly to go to sleep for winter, but she wants to go outside instead. Her parents tell her that this is "ridiculous!" She waits for them to go to sleep and she sneaks outside. Everyone she meets tells her that her being out in the cold is "ridiculous!" Are they right?
75 reviews1 follower
Read
September 21, 2022
I thought it was a cute story that is somewhat relatable when it comes to kids thinking they know what's best. The young tortoise in this case thought he didn't need to sleep for the winter and so he snuck out to venture off on the cold snowy day. After many encounters he decided he actually wanted to go back home and maybe he did need to sleep away during the winter months.
300 reviews2 followers
December 4, 2023
This is an "animal gets lost but makes it home" book about a tortoise in winter. The kids always liked to see the tortoise skittering through the snow. Her name is "Shelley". Sheesh! Why are names in kids' books so obvious?!
Profile Image for Rayjan Koehler.
663 reviews23 followers
January 30, 2020
A little repetitive book for young readers, but good for learning readers to practice reading of course.

Sometimes Mom and Dad know better- is also a good lesson/moral to gleam from this!
Profile Image for Alyssa Haverfield.
294 reviews2 followers
March 11, 2021
A very cute and cozy book! I love turtles, outdoor adventures and cuddling up for winter so this book is a win. Adorable illustrations as well.
Profile Image for Mellanie C.
3,008 reviews4 followers
May 19, 2021
This was very cute, and I really enjoyed the repetition.
Profile Image for Emma.
4,980 reviews13 followers
December 4, 2021
Shelley, a tortoise who works hard despite the adversity and discouragement from others.
30 reviews
January 10, 2022
A cute book for kids! My kids really enjoyed saying, "Ridiculous!" as I read. I don't know why this book as two different titles, though.
2 reviews
Read
November 14, 2023
A lovely book about a tortoise who refuses to hibernate. Teaches hibernation in a fun, interesting way for young children
6 reviews
April 6, 2024
I loved reading this book to my children when they were little. Even now, 17 or so years later, we keep referring to things as "ridiculous" in the same tone I used to use when reading it.
Profile Image for Jade Clark.
11 reviews
September 5, 2014
This book would be great for foundation stage and early key stage 1 when they are learning about different seasons. Ridiculous! is set in the winter and talks about how different animals adapt during this season and about hibernation. The story follows a tortoise named Shelley.

Shelley, is a young tortoise who doesn’t wish to hibernate like her parents. Instead she wants to go out on an adventure outside of the small shed they are staying in and have a look at what winter is like. “Ridiculous!’ Shelley’s parents cry, ‘whoever heard of a tortoise outside in winter?’. When Shelley’s parents are happily snoring Shelley doesn’t listen to her parents and instead leaves ‘her warm bed of leaves’ and goes out through a small hole in the shed to explore winter for herself.

There is snow and ice everywhere and soon Shelley meets a whole host of animals such as a duck who tells her that Shelley can’t break through ice with her beak to get food, and a dog who tells her she can’t run as fast as he can to keep warm, and a bird who tells her she can’t fly home and snuggle up with her family. Shelley comes to a realisation that she can’t do all these things, and throughout whenever these animals meet her they all say ‘A tortoise out in winter?...Ridiculous!’ On each page this is repeated, which makes it great for the children to get involved in when the book is read out to the class.

Shelley on realising that she can’t do any of these things feels cold and miserable, she remembers the shed and how warm it is and how ‘A tortoise out in winter is ridiculous!’ With that she slips and falls over backwards sliding down the hill getting faster and faster, faster than a dog, a cat, until she hits a bump and is flying like a bird and then lands on the icy duck pond. She then tucks her head into her shell and smashes through the ice that blocked up the hole to the shed waking up her parents. ‘You haven’t been outside, have you, Shelley?’ They ask and all Shelley says is ‘Outside?’ before falling fast asleep.

This a good book to show why certain animals hibernate during winter, because they are not adapted to the season as well as other animals. The book is informative in that it gives small facts to why tortoises hibernate for example, ‘because it’s cold outside and there is no food’ and of course Shelley learns herself why tortoises aren’t suited for the winter.

As an extension task children could try and think of any other animals that hibernate in winter and have a think about why they do. This book teaches about adventure and exploration, but also they fact that you should listen to your parent’s, because most of the time they know best!

Children will love the humour, pictures and finding out about the word ‘ridiculous’, as well as meeting all the different kinds of animals.
Profile Image for Jane.
Author 7 books92 followers
March 14, 2014
Preschool age children love to learn new 'big' words and A Silly Snowy Day offers them one, 'ridiculous'. The book also promotes per-reading skills with the repetition in the text. It is a good book to read often until the preschool child learns the story and can pretend to read it to themselves, another pre-reading skill. Pre-reading skills are good predictor points for the child to have success in learning to read in kindergarten. The other plus is my preschool class loves the story and it took us to a discussion of hibernation and how animals do this in winter, how hibernation is different from regular sleep and what animals do this in winter. Each year I try to cover lessons in hibernating animals and A Silly Snowy Day is now part of my collection of children's book on the subject.
Profile Image for Marit.
50 reviews1 follower
Read
October 23, 2012
This was an adventurous and sweet story about a tortoise named Shelley who was determined to go outside when it was winter. Everyone told Shelly that it was rediculous that a tortoise was outside when it was winter, and the animals made fun of Shelley and told her that she could not do the same as them. Towards the end of the book Shelley realize that she actually can do something that the other animals cannot do, and that was to go inside her shell when she was about to break the ice. I would use this book to read to children in the kindergarten and talk about different animals and how they adapt to the different seasons.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews