I have a love-hate relationship with the California Academy of Sciences museum in my city. I don’t approve of animals in captivity. The penguins there who are so entertaining (there is a penguin cam for remote viewing!) drive me nuts about their habitat in particular, although I’m also upset about many of the other creatures there. This book is about Claude though and about his turtle friends. It makes sense for Claude to be where he is since he would not have survived in the wild. The turtles who share the habitat space with Claude were rescued from being killed for food. I still having conflicting feelings since he’s “an ambassador for science” but he shouldn’t have to be anything. I know that the staff there think they take great care of all of the animals and do important research and they probably do. Sometimes I miss being a child and younger adult being able to experience uncomplicated joy when visiting and reading about/thinking about these animals.

I grew up with this museum. It still retains some of its old features though most of it has been renovated since then. There are many improvements. I love their living roof and still love the now very different planetarium. I have gone with friends who have memberships that include bringing guests and therefore haven’t paid them anything for admission for a long time. Yes, mixed feelings indeed.

This book has an engaging story and I think that children in San Francisco and children who have never visited the city will be captivated by it. There is additional more detailed information at the end presented in a Q & A format.

It's a perfect story for discussing and accepting differences of all kinds.

The illustrations are really great too.

I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to children. It would make a particularly great gift for San Francisco Bay Area children who have been able or will be able to visit Claude and the turtles and the rest of the museum and I do think that all children would probably also enjoy the book. It’s an excellent book.

I appreciated that both the author and the illustrator live in San Francisco and know their subject well. That shows.

4-1/2 stars ( )