Samantha Loses the Box Turtle

Samantha #1

by Daisy Griffin

When Samantha's grandfather finds a box turtle on a busy street the only thing to do is bring him home. Sam's mom says that he has to be let go, but not before some zany drama ensues. You'll have to read to find out how Samantha Loses the Box Turtle!

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Animals

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2011

About the author

Daisy Griffin enjoys writing books that educate as well as delight her readers. She graduated from Auburn University in 2006 with a degree in Zoology. She is an award-winning educator, developing a curriculum that brings ecology lessons alive for young children.

When she is not rescuing animals from the many things they can get into on their own, she and her husband are raising three children, who are as much or more interested in creatures as she is.

Daisy is the author of the Samantha Series of Chapter Books.

Reviews

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say I loved the book, more importantly, my son did also. We took turns reading it and he enjoyed the story so much he read it again on his own. My son is eight years old and doesn't quite share my love of reading. When discussing the book afterwards I told him I was going to write a book review on it and explained what a book review was. He was excited and wanted me to tell other parents to get this book for their children because it is really good and you can learn things about turtles and not just read/listen to some story. I also thought the book was well written in a way that did share information in a way that kept it interesting for children. I highly recommend this book for boys or girls. I loved the characters and the story.

I would like to thank goodreads, Daisy Griffin for giving me the opportunity to read and share this book.

[Kendra Ardnek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up with a younger sister who loved animals, we had a few turtles … or more like lots of turtles. Four of these turtles were box turtles, and three of those came from the wild. I really enjoyed this book, as it brought back so many memories from those days.

The story starts with them finding the turtle on the way home from a trip to town one day. They bring it home in a plastic sack because they found it in an unsafe location, and when they get home, their mother tells them they could not keep the turtle as it was wild and would not survive properly in captivity, something I can attest to because we had to release all three of the box turtles we got from the wild rather soon after my sister acquired them. They decide to take the turtle to the local nature preserve.
Samantha is also studying the Food Chain in school and, with permission from both her mother and teacher, brings the turtle to show her fellow students. While at school, the turtle gets out and they have to re-find him again, and after school they take the turtle to the Nature Preserve.
It was a good story, and flowed pretty seamlessly. There were plenty of turtle facts peppered throughout, but they were never annoying. To my surprise, there was no mention of evolution. All facts were the hands-on type that you can prove. The pictures were naturally black and white, so that should not be an issue on the black and white Kindle.
Samantha did not get along with her sister as well as I would have liked her to, and I found the baby’s speech a tad bit unrealistic, but not much.

All in all, this is a good book, one I’m sure my younger sister would have devoured back during her turtle days, and one I’m sure my younger brother will enjoy reading.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Kindle download for very young readers, Samantha Loses the Box Turtle, seems a bit long for ages 4-8 as it was advertised with more complex sentence structure than I would have expected. The story itself was enjoyable, about an animal-loving family who learns all about the habits and habitat of a box turtle. Clearly, the author draws on her personal experience in an animal preserve to bring in lots of great facts, but she also does a great job fitting them in to the context of a real story rather than "this is an educational book about turtles." The illustrations were quite good and helped the book feel a bit more like a children's book. I'd pick up more in this series.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA is a bit of a stretch for this book- it was clearly aimed at the elementary student who is ready for chapter books. However, I do have some students who will benefit from having a book at this level in the classroom library. The short chapters and illustrations take away the intimidation that a lot of books have for struggling readers, but the reader will still encounter some high level vocabulary. I like that the book includes facts and questions at the end- some of my struggling students ask for work to do at home, and here the author has provided it for me!

[Anuradha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book free for kindle and I'm reading it with my kids. Wonderfully written, a good balance between story, educational value and nice illustrations. Once we finish, I'm straight away buying the next book!

[BlackhamBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my two little boys. It was a good "read together" book, with fairly small chapters, a few pictures thrown in, a decent storyline and a lot of educational information too.

We've been watching "Full House" on DVD, the three girls in this family are about the same ages as DJ, Stephanie and Michelle ... in fact the youngest in the book IS named Michelle.

I didn't care for a couple of the names ... they found the turtle on "Gay" street, and end up calling it "Gayzer". The word gay just has so much controversy in today's day and age, I think I just would have preferred a different name. The teacher at school was named Mrs. Klutz ... again, really, can’t we just have a regular name that doesn’t have any preconceived connotations?

So overall, I thought it was a good, educational story. The boys listened fine, but didn't seem overly attached to the book. We have the second "Samantha" book, but I'll probably read some other books before coming back to it.

[Sieun Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very good book, I learn a lot about box turtle.

I surprised when I read the part about that box turtle love to hide!

I never thought turtle can actually hide and protect it self not to be killed.

It's really good to read the book that fiction and nonfiction is in one book.

Best part was when Sam lost her turtle and when Ms.Kitty came to class.

Worst part was beginning of the story, I still don't get what's going on...

But it's great to learn box turtle!

[Barbara Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fictional story about a girl named Samantha who is traveling with her grandparents and two younger sisters when a box turtle suddenly crosses the road. She pleads with them to stop, and to her surprise grandpa not only rescues the turtle but hands it to her. Once they return home, the girls plead with their parents to keep it, but mom explains that a box turtle needs to live in the wild. She agrees that they can keep it until the next day. Samantha also gets her teacher’s permission to bring the turtle to school.

Many adventures ensue as the turtle they have named Gayzer manages to escape both at home and in the classroom. Samantha introduces us to several of her friends and their reactions to her turtle. Because they are studying the food chain in science, their teacher, Mrs. Klutz, has devised a very clever “answer the question and pass the turtle” game to teach the children. At the same time, the reader is learning a lot of facts about turtles, nature and ecosystems. An element of suspense is introduced when the turtle goes missing and the neighborhood cat somehow gets into the classroom. This causes the entire student body to go into an uproar as everyone in the room desperately searches for Gayzer Samantha is supposed to protect and return her turtle to the nature preserve after school. Now she feels guilty that she may have caused it harm.

This chapter book with beautiful black and white illustrations is just over one hundred pages. The charming way the story is told will entertain children in first grade and up if read in chapters. Older children will amass a great deal of information about reptiles and nature; such as, how to tell the sex of a turtle, what they eat, how they survive in their habitats, and how long they live. The adult characters guide the children, but do not preach or make decisions for them. There is just the right amount of humor like naming the teacher Mrs. Klutz, and the toddler sister placing stickers on the turtle so that she could identify it when searching for it in the nature preserve. I thought the questions based on the book at the end were well done and an excellent resource for teachers to test comprehension. In the conclusion, the author reveals that the story is based on the real life experience of a family with three daughters and grandparents who rescue a box turtle named Gayzer and release it to a nature preserve. She also provides additional fun facts about box turtles and includes her website www.samsanimals.info. I am looking forward to many more animal adventure stories with Samantha and her family.

[Deb Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book through a goods read giveaway.

Normally I don't try for kids books as my child is all grown up. But I loved the idea of this book. After I got it I decided to read it with my niece who is 7 and enjoys books and animals. I have to say she fell in love with this book and wanted to rush right out and find a turtle of her own. I noticed that she enjoyed how the book was geared towards talking to her in kid language. I liked that she was so excited about the book that she wanted to read it over and over again. The quiz is an awesome idea and the fun facts included in the back had her sharing them with the whole family.

This was a fun and educational book with a lot of heart and we really enjoyed it.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book about box turtles. It gives some very good information for children interested in box turtles. Has a question area in the back.