Turtlechick

Good humor and inventiveness characterize Bein’s tale of a strange creature; half-turtle, half-chick. Its themes of muddled identity and ostracism are reminiscent of The Ugly Duckling. Yet this tale is optimistic, portraying an outcast who is readily accepted by the group. When Mimi the white chicken finally finds an egg to brood, it is gigantic, unlike anything the chickens in the coop have ever seen. What emerges is stranger still: big and green, with a hard back and no feathers, the newborn resembles a turtle much more than a chick. Mimi proudly wraps Turtlechick in the sweater she has knitted, but nothing will protect him from mockery.

Teased for being slow and heavy, Turtlechick is not allowed to board the chick’s makeshift watermelon-rind boat. Only when the boat capsizes and Turtlechick rescues his playmates from drowning is he accepted as part of the group. Without moralizing about Turtlechick’s hurt feelings, Bein has written a memorable tale about accepting those who are different, and the rewards of cooperation.