Mossy

Brett (Home for Christmas) again lavishes attention on the delights and eccentricities of the natural world in this quiet, idiosyncratic addition to her canon of meticulously rendered picture books. Set in the Edwardian era, the story centers on Mossy, a turtle who lives in a pond-side habitat and has moss, ferns, and wildflowers growing from her carapace. Just after Mossy meets and becomes enamored of a turtle named Scoot, a museum curator, Dr. Carolina, brings Mossy indoors to live in a "viewing pavilion with plants, a reflecting pool and everything they thought a turtle would need." Though the turtle is carefully tended to and admired by museum visitors, Mossy misses her outdoor home and Scoot. In a contrived solution, two artists (improbably named Flora and Fauna) paint a portrait of Mossy to immortalize her in the museum before Dr. Carolina and her niece return her to the wild. Filled with beetles, shells, feathers, and other natural phenomena, Brett's signature intricate borders frame gorgeous gouache and watercolor spreads that include handsome period details and some visual surprises. An odd but lovely story. Ages 3-5. (Sept.)

PreS-Gr 3--Mossy, an eastern box turtle, lives in the deep shade of Lilypad Pond, and the moss growing on her carapace offers fertile ground for a variety of plants. The garden on her back draws the attention of a local naturalist who takes the oddity to her museum as a living display. Mossy, unhappy and missing her home (as well as her special turtle friend), is returned to the wild after her portrait is painted for a happy ending all around. The sweet, simply written story reiterates an important message of respect for the environment. But this is a book by Jan Brett, so the watercolor and gouache illustrations trump the narrative in the storytelling. Here, the artist's familiar borders hold a field guide's worth of expert paintings: butterflies, mosses, fungi, wildflowers, orchids, feathers, crystals, shells, insects, fossils, and seeds. They frame each spread, and detailed illustrations follow the text and include predictive medallions that introduce characters or secondary plot details. Labeling the small drawings would have increased the curricular use of the title, but this omission does not detract from the book's overall value. Mossy is a beauty.--Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick's Catholic School, Charlotte, NC