Alfie: (The Turtle That Disappeared)

by Thyra Heder

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Call number

Copy 4

Collection

EYEPlay

Description

Told from the perspective of both the girl, Nia, and her pet turtle, Alfie, and describes what happens when he disappears on the eve of her seventh birthday to find her a special present.

User reviews

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26

When Nia is given a pet turtle for her sixth birthday, the little girl takes Alfie to her heart, sharing all of her activities with him. His seeming unresponsiveness sees a falling off in her attentiveness, until the day of her seventh birthday, when he goes missing. Where can he be? It turns out,

while Nia may have grown bored with Alfie, he is still enthralled with her, and has set out to find the perfect birthday gift. Unfortunately, as a turtle, he doesn't move very fast...

The third picture-book that author/artist Thyra Heder has produced, following upon Fraidyzoo and The Bear Report, Alfie: (The Turtle That Disappeared) offers a lovely depiction of a human-turtle relationship, as viewed by the two different participants. Although the text itself does not draw attention to this fact, the idea that turtles live their (very long) lives at a different pace than humans is ably captured in the illustrations, which conclude with Nia's birthday party (albeit not the one the reader may expect). As always with Heder's books, I found the narrative her engaging, and the artwork absolutely gorgeous.

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