Turtle Crossing tackles the stresses that children face with moving houses, like leaving things they love behind as they enter a wholly new way-of-life. While, to parents, the process spans over months (as they sign endless paperwork, tour houses, and meet with agents), moving houses can feel abrupt and disorienting to kids.  Dr. Hassell does a good job depicting this rapid change through Oliver’s reaction. Though it’s unlikely a child would find out the day of, it encapsulates the dramatic interruption that moving houses can be, justifying Oliver hiding from his parents after. The language in the narration validates the stress Oliver is feeling, which is reassuring to kids in similar spots who may feel insecure about “overreacting” and may be bottling up their worries. The end of the book, like the beginning, continues to validate the typical feelings of worry that arise with moving: it is normal to be stressed about big changes. Instead of “proving” that Oliver “had nothing to worry about,” Turtle Crossing demonstrates that moving is stressful and complicated, but change can bring good things, as well. When Oliver begins to miss his old home when he arrives in Turtle Crossing (his new town) his parents comfort him and remind him that his “home” will always be on his back, just like how kids will always be themselves, even in different homes. The love of his parents and the new, fun activities that he finds in Turtle Crossing, show that expectations and worries are just that: expectations and worries. The message centers the reader and their feelings, while gently encouraging them to seek out positives in their new lives.

The text in the book is accompanied by endearing, hand-painted images that match the description of events. The images themselves are clear in what is pictured and sensical to the plot, assisting comprehension for listeners who may need visuals to coincide with audio. For the most part, each two-page spread has one or more pictures, so, were the book to be read aloud, the listeners would always be provided a visual representation of the text. The turtles in the story are not anthropomorphic (drawn to look humanoid, standing on two legs) but do have expressions that mirror human emotion and communicate their current emotions. Arguably, real-life turtles can be hard to tell apart, so Dr. Hassell visually differentiates the characters by using different markings and coloring for each, which helps readers track who is who. The art is mindful and well-done for a picture book, but the formatting of the images with the text occasionally becomes difficult when read aloud. The font is Comic Sans, the same size, and center-justified throughout the entirety of the book, which occasionally leads to sentences pausing and restarting on the next page. While this is no issue in a novel, it can interrupt the flow of narration and potentially confuse the reader or listener as a picture book. There is also one two-page spread that is only text on both pages, which may be momentarily awkward for children who struggle with auditory processing. The story makes up for its formatting hiccups, though.

I would highly recommend Turtle Crossing to families who are in the process of moving or who have moved in the past for its healthy take on worry and Oliver’s strength in overcoming his personal challenges, no matter how big or small! It is not often that moving-related worries are explored rather than dismissed, so Turtle Crossing’s central themes may help children process and ease the big life transition. Additionally, the end of the book has turtle fun facts and jokes – a nice reward for facing such a deep message.