May 24, 2018
Turtle Pond, by James Gladstone and Karen Reczuch
Every time I go, Allan Gardens seems like a secret I’ve just been let in on, this tropical oasis in the heart of the city, even in the dead of the winter. And if Allan Gardens is a secret, then the Allan Gardens turtle pond is a treasure at the bottom of your pocket. When we go, we can linger there for ages as the waterwheel turns, counting the turtles, then counting them again, and never coming up with the same total twice. Everything they do is fascinating, and we watch them with wonder, these otherworldly creatures who are our neighbours. Eventually I wander off to check out the orchids, but my children never tire of watching the turtles in the turtle pond. And so we were all excited about Turtle Pond, by James Gladstone and Karen Reczuch, in which the magical Allan Gardens turtles finally find their way into proper legend, where they belong. For us, this story of a trip to the turtle pond is perfectly familiar, and the illustrations do a lovely job of conjuring the experience, and for those who haven’t learned the secret yet, this book is a great place to start discovering.
February 25, 2009
Speaking of gorgeous books
… and speaking of gorgeous books, how about Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant, which entered my life today. And I knew as soon as I saw it, because these days a fabulous book cover design often has these two words behind it: Kelly Hill. I can’t wait to start reading. The book also has me reflecting on literary tortoises, which are really quite common– Lightning from Arcadia springs to mind from the start, because it’s fresh there, and I do know that they came up in Woolf’s essays, if not her fiction (which I’m not sure of). There are more, I’m sure, and one day I’ll write the definitive guide.
