Catch Hold Of And Still The Turtle Watched Illustrated By Sheila MacGill-Callahan Provided As Digital Version

is described as being fiction, but it's really historical fiction, While reading, I kept wondering if this would be a book I'd use with kids, Then I read the note at the end of the story, which sent me on a google search, It sounds to me like the basic story matches what is known about the rock at the NY Botanical Gardens, If reading this with a child, I'd start by talking about a real rock in New York and how people used all kinds of clues to figure out a possible story about the rock's "life.
" Long ago, a Delaware Indian carved a turtle out of a rock on the bank of a river, It was to watch over his people, but gradually fewer people came to worship and the turtle saw many changes occur, . . even vandalism. The rock was then found by a man hundreds of years later and he moved it to a botanical garden in the city, where it remains today for children to look at and talk to.
The author's themes seem to be ecological pollution and recovery as well as the embodiment of faith in a gentler, more caring time.
The illustrations by Barry Moser are lovely, This is a unique story imagining the history of a reallife Native American artifact that now can be seen at the New York Botanical Garden.
Strong, if heavyhanded, message about protecting the environment and being respectful of the world around us, This is a great book to introduce children to the importance of taking care of our environment,/: We enjoyed this one. First we saw on Reading Rainbow ages ago, Revisiting as we study turtles and have "Shelley" on loan from Anita Purves Nature Center,

Amazon: Grade
This story begins long ago when a Grandfather carves a turtle from a rock to be the eyes of Manitou.
The turtle watches as his people, the Delaware, prosper and grow, He watches new people arrive, people who change the earth, eventually polluting the water, the air, even the stone upon which the turtle rests.
The turtle becomes blinded and forgotten until an anthropologist recognizes him under the graffiti and places him in the New York Botanical Garden where children once again hear him.


The narrative voice is reserved and contemplative, which enhances the Native American flavor of the story, but underplays the drama of the events.
Moser's watercolor illustrations provide much of the drama the text lacks, His portraits of the old man carving the stone or the teenagers spraypainting the rock convey an immediacy and provide a visual connection with the people and their time.


Unfortunately, the stone turtle's story, fabricated from fact, myth, and vision, is weighed down by its obvious message, And as wonderful as the message is, it's likely to appeal only to concerned adults who use it to teach children to respect the environment and the Native American people.

Karen K. Radtke, Milwaukee Public Library
Nice watercolors, . . I want to go see it, It's a beautiful tale about faith, endurance, and culture, As a book recommended through Reading Rainbow, I had anticipated that it would be more basic and suitable for a toddler,

To read our full review, go to sitelinkThe Reading Tub, Hamfisted messaging based on selective, if not revisionist history in part, Sigh. Read this one in lieu of Native American Heritage month, It was a short, kind of sad story, I wish we could have seen more of the turtle though, This would be a great book to read aloud for many different reasons, I could use it as a social studies lesson, Or I could use it to teach the students to respect property and other cultures, This book is about a turtle that is shaped from a rock, The turtle watched over the land and its people, However, over time the world changed and the people no longer care about the land and its animals, This is told from the perspective of the Native American culture, Students can learn new vocabulary and practice using context clues to figure unknown words, A turtle carved in rock on a bluff over the Hudson River by Indians long ago watches with sadness the changes man brings over the years.
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