Pleasant DeSpain

Neither of my kiddos (age 3 and 6) liked this tale. The idea of putting the turtle in a pot of boiling water was a little too real, and then the turtle lies to escape. The author raises the issue of lying to save your life, but for little ones it was a bit of a stretch. I liked that the illustrations included drawings of different rainforest animals on every spread.

The theme of using your wit and wisdom to escape adversity runs throughout this Brazilian tale.

The story is about how a turtle tricks a young brother and sister into releasing him out of his cage by playing a flute and dancing. Although the story is humorous it does have a moral to it: always listen to your parents ;)

This is an interesting folktale from another country that teaches about cunning and the importance of nature and respecting nature. First grade and up.