What do you think?
Rate this book
Billy the Sea Turtle
Meet Billy, a newly hatched sea turtle who loves to swim and explore. But no matter how hard he tries, Billy can never seem to swim as fast as his friends. One day, Billy washes ashore and meets a young girl who just might know how to help him speed up his swimming! Author and Illustrator Annabelle Bennett wrote this story to inspire children to cherish the ocean and protect the natural habitat it provides for sea turtles like Billy and other marine life. The light and lively story, mixed with colorful, calming watercolor pastel illustrations, make it an ideal bedtime read. Fans of popular animated films like Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid, and A Turtle’s Tale, will relish discovering the world through the wide blue eyes of Billy the Sea Turtle . A portion of the book sales will go to several of Annabelle's favorite charities, including oceana.org, coral.org, worldwildlife.org, and 4ocean.com.
30 pages, Paperback
Published April 19, 2021
276 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 7, 2021
I enjoyed this sweet story of Billy the Sea Turtle. I think it has a great message of being responsible as humans and not littering or polluting the earth. It does have a kind little girl that helps Billy and releases him back into the ocean.
The story is beautifully illustrated on each page and the storyline is in rhyme. The only thing is, it doesn't show HOW Billy became entangled in lines that have hindered and endangered him. With the beach and ocean appearing clean and spotless, how do you explain to a child that litter, things like the plastic around cans and bottles can become a hazard for animals?
I won an ebook copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily.
The story is beautifully illustrated on each page and the storyline is in rhyme. The only thing is, it doesn't show HOW Billy became entangled in lines that have hindered and endangered him. With the beach and ocean appearing clean and spotless, how do you explain to a child that litter, things like the plastic around cans and bottles can become a hazard for animals?
I won an ebook copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily.
June 14, 2021
Billy the Sea Turtle shares an important message of litter and ocean polluting as Billy doesn't look like other sea turtles and his swimming is slower and through pictures of Billy, the reader can see what is different about him. I have always taught my kids the damage garbage and litter can do to the Earth and how it affects Wildlife and we often pick up trash we see on our walks; through this story I was able to better show and explain the real-life effects of litter on the animals. While the illustrations were great in this book, it failed to show the actual litter and instead the ocean appeared clean and beautiful which is a different message being told in the story.
Overall, I recommend this book as the story and it's message are important even if logistically the pages didn't tell or illustrate the way Billy became a victim of ocean polluting.
A Kindle copy of this book was won through a Goodreads Giveaway and was read as a bedtime story.
Overall, I recommend this book as the story and it's message are important even if logistically the pages didn't tell or illustrate the way Billy became a victim of ocean polluting.
A Kindle copy of this book was won through a Goodreads Giveaway and was read as a bedtime story.
May 10, 2021
Billy the Sea Turtle is a sweet story with a valuable message about littering and pollution. Bennett’s choice to convey this message using an adorable baby sea turtle as the main character is a success as well. Her illustrations of Billy and his friends and of the natural world around them are charming.
Unfortunately, the text in the book, which is written in verse, is somewhat clunky and irregular, and it works against Bennett’s storytelling. The effort to make her lines rhyme results in awkward writing that could be difficult for younger readers to understand. For example, “Yet the trees were green and the beaches so white, / not a cloud in sky ever so bright.” This sentence construction seems a bit archaic for the intended age range. I give Bennett credit for trying to write in verse, but I think the book would have been better if it had been written in prose.
I also think that a book written in prose would have opened the door for more explication, character development, or a more direct statement of Bennett’s message. Readers aren’t told how Billy got tangled up in litter, where the litter came from, how long he’d suffered, or why it affected him the way it did. The book also ends abruptly without making its moral clear: “Billy then swam as fast as he could, / with a smile on his face because he now understood.” Understood what? I had to explain the ending to my Little Reader (LR), and I think it lost something in translation. The book could easily have been extended a few pages to reveal how Billy's life improved or how children can help animals like Billy. After the last page, there’s a list of ways to “Reduce Reuse Recycle” that’s obviously intended for adults – “Avoid using harsh chemicals” and “Volunteer for beach clean ups” – but my LR wasn’t interested. It would have been more meaningful if some of the more kid-friendly suggestions could have been incorporated into the story.
All in all, a well-intentioned, timely book with some issues.
Thank you, Goodreads and eBookIt.com, for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book for free.
Unfortunately, the text in the book, which is written in verse, is somewhat clunky and irregular, and it works against Bennett’s storytelling. The effort to make her lines rhyme results in awkward writing that could be difficult for younger readers to understand. For example, “Yet the trees were green and the beaches so white, / not a cloud in sky ever so bright.” This sentence construction seems a bit archaic for the intended age range. I give Bennett credit for trying to write in verse, but I think the book would have been better if it had been written in prose.
I also think that a book written in prose would have opened the door for more explication, character development, or a more direct statement of Bennett’s message. Readers aren’t told how Billy got tangled up in litter, where the litter came from, how long he’d suffered, or why it affected him the way it did. The book also ends abruptly without making its moral clear: “Billy then swam as fast as he could, / with a smile on his face because he now understood.” Understood what? I had to explain the ending to my Little Reader (LR), and I think it lost something in translation. The book could easily have been extended a few pages to reveal how Billy's life improved or how children can help animals like Billy. After the last page, there’s a list of ways to “Reduce Reuse Recycle” that’s obviously intended for adults – “Avoid using harsh chemicals” and “Volunteer for beach clean ups” – but my LR wasn’t interested. It would have been more meaningful if some of the more kid-friendly suggestions could have been incorporated into the story.
All in all, a well-intentioned, timely book with some issues.
Thank you, Goodreads and eBookIt.com, for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book for free.
July 22, 2021
Book review originally published on my blog
Dragon Bite Books
.
I won this Kindle ebook through a Goodreads giveaway.
Billy as a young turtle finds himself tangled in some sort of rubbish—how is not explained—that prevents him from growing the proper shape—as can happen to turtles. Because of his deformed shell, he is slower than his friend, Kevin. Billy gets caught in a storm and is washed ashore. On the beach, he meets a human, a girl with blue eyes and brown hair, who, after playing on the beach with Billy, cuts away the strings that have bound him most of his life. Then she sets him back in the ocean.
Bennett demanded an AA, BB, etc., rhyme scheme of herself, and I don’t think she should have done. The adherence to the rhyme scheme makes the syntax often awkward. Once the “girl” is rhymed with “pearl,” but the only pearls seem to be in her two earrings, and if there are two of them then it should be “pearls,” and it is very unclear that the “pearl” that Billy sees is her earring. Though the third to last page falters and uses an ABCB pattern (which seems more like a poor formatting choice than a faltering in the text).
It is never explained where this girl comes from or why she is alone on the beach, collecting trash and building sandcastles.
The book ends with “Billy then swam as fast as he could, with a smile on his face because now he understood.” But I’m not sure that I understand. What does Billy understand? That the strings, newly cut loose, that deformed his shell and changed his shape make him a slower swimmer? That he was affected by something outside of his control and his slowness is not an inborn flaw? How does Billy feel about this? The ending seems to me incomplete. Is he faster now although his shell has not and may not resume its proper shape? Does he understand that some humans are nice? What was his impression of humans prior to this? This seems to be his first encounter with a human…. The book just misses the punch that I’d like from an ending.
I won this Kindle ebook through a Goodreads giveaway.
Billy as a young turtle finds himself tangled in some sort of rubbish—how is not explained—that prevents him from growing the proper shape—as can happen to turtles. Because of his deformed shell, he is slower than his friend, Kevin. Billy gets caught in a storm and is washed ashore. On the beach, he meets a human, a girl with blue eyes and brown hair, who, after playing on the beach with Billy, cuts away the strings that have bound him most of his life. Then she sets him back in the ocean.
Bennett demanded an AA, BB, etc., rhyme scheme of herself, and I don’t think she should have done. The adherence to the rhyme scheme makes the syntax often awkward. Once the “girl” is rhymed with “pearl,” but the only pearls seem to be in her two earrings, and if there are two of them then it should be “pearls,” and it is very unclear that the “pearl” that Billy sees is her earring. Though the third to last page falters and uses an ABCB pattern (which seems more like a poor formatting choice than a faltering in the text).
It is never explained where this girl comes from or why she is alone on the beach, collecting trash and building sandcastles.
The book ends with “Billy then swam as fast as he could, with a smile on his face because now he understood.” But I’m not sure that I understand. What does Billy understand? That the strings, newly cut loose, that deformed his shell and changed his shape make him a slower swimmer? That he was affected by something outside of his control and his slowness is not an inborn flaw? How does Billy feel about this? The ending seems to me incomplete. Is he faster now although his shell has not and may not resume its proper shape? Does he understand that some humans are nice? What was his impression of humans prior to this? This seems to be his first encounter with a human…. The book just misses the punch that I’d like from an ending.
June 3, 2021
The Friendship of Billy and Kevin
Here is an adoring book that I was fortunate enough to win a contest on Goodreads to receive. It is easy to fall in live will Billy. You meet Billy for the first time as he was hatching his way through the sand. The illustrations fascinating and painting worthy. The storyline is amazing. We follow Billy and Kevin on the early childhood journey. Finding their first home to exploring for treasure. He also learns a very important lesson. I highly recommend this book for ages 6-8. I also highly recommend this rhyming book for younger children as a bedtime storybook.
Here is an adoring book that I was fortunate enough to win a contest on Goodreads to receive. It is easy to fall in live will Billy. You meet Billy for the first time as he was hatching his way through the sand. The illustrations fascinating and painting worthy. The storyline is amazing. We follow Billy and Kevin on the early childhood journey. Finding their first home to exploring for treasure. He also learns a very important lesson. I highly recommend this book for ages 6-8. I also highly recommend this rhyming book for younger children as a bedtime storybook.
May 6, 2021
I won the ebook edition of this book through a goodreads giveaway. I thought this book was great! I’m a speech therapist and could definitely use this book in my therapy sessions. Lots of great vocabulary and the illustrations are cute!
May 26, 2021
Great children's book for someone learning to read with a great message. The illustrations are cute too.
September 5, 2021
So so story. Somewhat confusing and difficult for a toddler to understand.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews