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"One summer
morning, my husband, Joe and I were dangling our feet from our dock
on
Goose Lake. I was watching some water weeds on the bottom,
thinking they looked just like a giant turtle. Suddenly, they
swam up toward us. It was a turtle, a huge snapping one, with
an under water "garden" on its shell.
"That experience gave me the inspiration for Mossy.
I chose an eastern box turtle because I wanted my turtle to live on
land and grow a gorgeous garden on her carapace. I named her
friend Scoot because a turtle's shell is made up of plates called
'scutes'," pronounced the same way.
"Joe and I thought it would be wonderful to have our
own turtle pond. So we built one with rocks for sunning, caves
to hide in from predators like raccoons, and water deep enough for
hibernating during winter.
"We had our first turtle move in this past June, and
now a second turtle has arrived. The future for turtles
looks bright!""
Scoot has never seen a
turtle as beautiful as Mossy. But as Mossy walks toward
him, her amazing garden swaying back and forth on her shell, someone
picks her up and puts her in a basket.
Dr. Carolina has found the perfect exhibit for her museum.
She and her niece, Tory, take
Mossy there, and a large glass-enclosed case becomes Mossy's new
home. How she misses sitting on her rock by the waterfall. But most of all, she misses Scoot.
As more and more visitors come to admire Mossy, Tory
realizes that Mossy is sad. She is sure that Mossy wants to go
home.
How Mossy goes back to Scoot and how Dr. Carolina finds
a way to keep the spirit of Mossy alive in the museum makes for a
most satisfying and surprising ending.
Jan Brett fans will pore over the colorful paintings, the lush borders displaying flowers, ferns,
butterflies and bird, and the museum scenes filled with visitors in
stylish Edwardian dress. Mossy and Scott are sure to become
favorite characters for all ages in this unique story of love,
loyalty and home. |
