cover image Turtle Songs: A Tale for Mothers and Daughters

Turtle Songs: A Tale for Mothers and Daughters

Margaret Wolfson. Beyond Words Publishing, $15.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-885223-95-1

In this story based on a Fijian myth, a princess and her daughter are saved from kidnappers by a storm that destroys their canoe and transforms the mother and daughter into sea turtles. As turtles, the pair return to their island and promise to come whenever the villagers sing to them. Wolfson's (Marriage of the Rain Goddess) verbose retelling is competent, but does little to develop the relationship between the mother and daughter. The princess and her daughter's connection to the sea, before their transformation into turtles, also seems tenuous (the only clue the author offers is the princess's glancing wish, at one point, that she and her daughter were giant turtles). An afterword hints at the importance of sea turtles in the Fiji islands, but their mythical associations don't come through in the story itself. In her first children's book, Sachi uses bright South Sea colors, from the princess's flowing pink dress to the intense colors under the ocean's surface. But the illustrations do not always contribute to the narrative. The real strength of the artwork shows in the spreads of aquatic life: the sea turtles, dolphins and tropical fish seem to swim off the page. Ages 5-up. (May)