In late June, 2018, The Tortoise Tales received a Third Place (otherwise known as an Honorable Mention) from The Purple Dragonfly Children's Book Awards, an annual, independent competition of thousands of self-published children's books. Quite an accomplishment. Thanks to everyone who has helped to make this recognition happen!!!

Go to this link to read one of the four book reviews for The Tortoise Tales:

https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-tortoise-tales/

https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-tortoise-tales/

More professional reviews to follow soon.

  “...the human had long, light colored hair piled on top of its head. The little bird thought it looked a lot like his old bird’s nest, a most pleasant thought indeed…the human also possessed a very large mouth with big teeth. A bumped-up, squishy padding surrounded the mouth hole opening. It looked odd not having a beak like he had. As the human tried to communicate, its mouth opened and closed and the squishy padding made all kinds of shapes. All in all, the human appeared fairly pathetic to him, but oddly enough, not the least bit scary.”  

  “… the unimaginable struck like lightning and without warning. Throughout the tunnels the sounds of hundreds of terrified prairie dogs rang out at the same time. They barked and screamed loudly. A brief pause followed, perhaps the silence even more terrifying…Then a giant, clawed, scaly hawk’s leg stretched out slowly moving down the tunnel. Each of its sharp, long talons reached out, feeling along as it went.”  

 “…something felt different. You could almost smell it in the air. At least that’s the way it felt for many animals...They whispered, hissed and chattered nervously…it didn’t take long before all the different animals reached the same conclusion—they were facing a mystery of a very high order…”
 

“When Stella addressed the group of animals, she slowly moved her head around as only owls can. It looked odd, like her head was going all the way around in a complete circle. It struck a few of the animals funny, but no one dared laugh, especially with her owl-stare piercing right into the eyes of each of them as she spoke. It felt a little creepy, as if she was looking right through them, but it served to hold their attention quite well.”
 

“We can lick our paws, stretch our claws, or howl at the moon ‘til we turn purple, but it still won’t change anything. It won’t bring the children back to nature, back to the outdoors."

Photo on Left: "Baylek, the bald eagle from Tale Nine: "The Blue Light Mystery"