With collage illustrations, Little Turtle and the Changing Sea by Becky Davies (illustrated by Jennie Poh; Little Tiger Press, 2021) emphasizes a turtle’s life cycle, with emphasis on the dangers of human pollution when the ocean changes one day. As the title suggests, the story highlights two different oceans.
The first ocean turtle encounters, beginning when Little Turtle was born, is one in which Turtle swims the ocean with a light-hearted attitude in a gorgeous ocean. About half-way through the book, the reader sees a different ocean: one in which Turtle is lonely (due to loss of marine animals) and discouraged by the lack of color. Illustrations show the plastic pollution floating in her otherwise familiar ocean. Humans help clean up the ocean at the end of the story.
Turtle is given a personality in this warning story. Brief end matter encourages the reader to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and gives information about plastic pollution in the ocean.
