Mossy

Product Description Who will help Mossy return home to Lilypad Pond? Mossy, an amazing turtle with a gorgeous garden growing on her shell, loses her freedom when Dr. Carolina, a biologist, takes her to live in her Edwardian museum. Visitors flock to see Mossy, but it is Dr. Carolina's niece, Tory, who notices how sad Mossy is living in a viewing pavilion. She misses the outdoors and her friend, Scoot. Dr. Carolina finds a way to keep the spirit of Mossy alive at the museum. She invites Flora and Fauna to paint Mossy's portrait. Then she and Tory take Mossy home, where Scoot is waiting for her. Jan Brett fans will pore over the colorful paintings of Lilypad Pond and lush borders displaying wildflowers, ferns, butterflies and birds in contrast to elegant spreads of the museum filled with visitors in stylish Edwardian dress and exquisite borders of shells, rocks, crystals and birds' eggs. MOSSY gives readers a fascinating look at nature in the wild and on display in a natural history museum. From School Library Journal PreS-Gr 3-Mossy, an eastern box turtle, lives in the deep shade of Lilypad Pond, and the moss growing on her carapace offers fertile ground for a variety of plants. The garden on her back draws the attention of a local naturalist who takes the oddity to her museum as a living display. Mossy, unhappy and missing her home (as well as her special turtle friend), is returned to the wild after her portrait is painted for a happy ending all around. The sweet, simply written story reiterates an important message of respect for the environment. But this is a book by Jan Brett, so the watercolor and gouache illustrations trump the narrative in the storytelling. Here, the artist's familiar borders hold a field guide's worth of expert paintings: butterflies, mosses, fungi, wildflowers, orchids, feathers, crystals, shells, insects, fossils, and seeds. They frame each spread, and detailed illustrations follow the text and include predictive medallions that introduce characters or secondary plot details. Labeling the small drawings would have increased the curricular use of the title, but this omission does not detract from the book's overall value. Mossy is a beauty.-Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick's Catholic School, Charlotte, NCα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. About the Author Jan Brett lives in Norwell, Massachusetts.