The Dancing Turtle: A Folktale from Brazil

by Pleasant DeSpain, David Boston (Illustrator)

Overview

Turtle loves to dance and play the flute. But her exuberance puts her at risk when her music attracts the attention of a hunter who brings her home for turtle stew. After she is caught, her only hope for escape is the hunter's children ... and her own wit. This folktale, first told by the indigenous people of Brazil, is now told throughout Latin America. The versions are as different as the cultures that contain them, but all of them celebrate Turtle, who carries the world and its wisdom on her back. Like the people of Latin America, Turtle always seems to survive through courage and wit. In watercolors radiant with foliage and wildlife, David Boston guides the reader through the dense and fertile Amazon rain forest. READING LEVELS: Lexile Level: 570L; Guided Reading: K

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941460467
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	719,021
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.10(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 10 Years

About the Author

Pleasant DeSpain has a most unusual but true name and an equally unusual but true profession - writer and storyteller.​He travels the world collecting, researching, writing and retelling traditional tales from native cultures. Born in Colorado, he wrote his first original story at age eight. It was published as "The Mystery Artist" in 1996. Pleasant taught speech-literature-drama for six years at three universities, and wrote-produced-hosted an award-winning TV show called "Pleasant Journeys" on KING TV, Seattle. Now, the author of eighteen award-winning, multicultural story collections and picture books, published by August House, has a home in Troy, NY and frequently travels to spend extended periods of time in Thailand. While living half of each year in Thailand, Pleasant continues to collect more stories and is currently working on a new book.

Editorial Reviews

PreS-Gr 3The main character of this Brazilian trickster tale is a chubby turtle with an engaging smile, who loves to play her flute and dance. A man captures her and takes her home for a turtle-soup feast the next day. That afternoon, when he leaves her in his son and daughter's care and goes out to work the fields, Turtle promises to dance for the children if they let her out of the cage. Once freed, Turtle pretends to fall asleep, and subsequently escapes. The father returns home and vows to recapture the cunning animal. An ambiguous conclusion allows readers to determine Turtle's fate. An introductory source note explains that although indigenous peoples of Brazil created this folktale, it is now also told as far away as Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Although the oversized watercolor illustrations are colorful and attractive, the human faces are sometimes unnatural looking, and the little girl's arms and legs seem to grow and shrink on alternate pages. While young readers may enjoy identifying the many rain-forest animals hiding in the background scenery, the story is stronger than the art.Denise E. Agosto, formerly at Midland County Public Library, TX

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