Memoirs of a Tortoise by Devin Scillian, illustrated by Tim Bowers

Memoirs of a Tortoise is a Picture Book written for ages 4 to 8. I read a physical copy of this book. I will review this book in the category of the Texas Bluebonnet Award, which it won in 2023.

Memoirs of a Tortoise is about Oliver, a tortoise. It tells the story of when Oliver's pet human, Ike, goes away, and how Oliver learns to accept this loss and move forward.

I chose to read Memoirs of a Tortoise without knowing anything about it or the Memoirs Series it is a part of. As I skimmed the book in the library, I enjoyed the artwork and the month-to-month format of the book's design. Additionally, I hoped that it might teach me and my animal-loving kids some interesting tortoise facts, which it did.

In this review, I will evaluate illustration, pacing, and the experience of reading a physical book.

Bower's illustrations within Memoirs of a Tortoise are beautiful and immersive, bringing the reader into the tortoise's world. In harmony with the story being told from the perspective of a tortoise, Bower cleverly creates illustrations focused on how Oliver would see the world. Flowers and plants are large, and the garden path is wide and seems as if it could encompass the whole world. Ike, on the other hand, is seen in the background, and a point is made to show how small his hand is compared to Oliver's broad shell. In these ways, the illustrations affirm the author's intention to tell the tortoise's story from his perspective, rather than a human one. The reader is fully aware of how big and full Oliver's world is. In addition, Bower does an incredible job of drawing Oliver in a realistic style while also conveying a large range of emotions on his tortoise face. Readers can see the love and joy Oliver feels when he is with Ike, and they can feel his concern growing on the page as Ike stops visiting the garden and then disappears entirely. They can also see, and thus feel, peace settle on Oliver as he comes to terms with losing Ike and accepting that this loss is a part of life. You can feel the passage of time healing him through the illustrations and page design of this remarkable book.

One way in which Scillian employs the format of a memoir is by having each two-page spread of the book coincide with a month, from April to April, with a few exceptions in which a month includes multiple two-page spreads. Doing this allows the reader to understand the contented nature of Oliver's life and his relationship with Ike. It reinforces feelings of unity between the two, as they are both 80 years old and have grown up together in the garden. At the beginning of the book, each month these two characters are repeating well-established patterns rather than getting to know one another. The reader can feel, in the way Oliver responds to the passing of time, that he is completely comfortable in his predictable but very good life. Establishing this mood makes the disappearance of Ike more jarring for both Oliver and the reader, who was experiencing the peace of Oliver and Ike's garden alongside these characters. Predictability is suddenly stripped away from Oliver, and so it is taken from the reader as well. In the ensuing months, readers slowly travel with Oliver as he goes to visit his mother, asks about Ike's disappearance, and then travels home again. This process is not rushed. Each month still gets a two-page spread. This is very impactful because of the way it models grief. Grief is slow and must be traveled through at its own pace. It cannot be rushed. Even with the support of loved ones who can help individuals understand loss, it is a journey made alone, at one's own pace. Oliver is a tortoise, and his story and his grief are experienced at a steady tortoise pace. As the months move forward, so does Oliver, but there is no rush, only a resettling into his world after he faces a major change. And while Oliver finds new joys as he returns to his garden and a fresh new April, the loss of Ike remains a part of him, not forgotten but accepted. Memories of Ike become cherished as Oliver's life carries on. The pacing in the book is a masterclass that makes this child-friendly approach to grief and loss very poignant while remaining accessible to young readers.

I chose to read this Memoirs of a Tortoise as a physical book because it is my preferred format for picture books. While picture books can be experienced through a screen, I feel something is lost in the experience and connection with the artwork when picture books cannot be physically read. This becomes even more true when I read with my children, who enjoy physically turning a page, flipping back to study a previous illustration, or flipping forward and predicting what will happen in the story next. Physically engaging with Bower's art increased my and my children's engagement with and excitement about Memoirs of a Tortoise. We loved looking at the details and bright colors in the illustrations, which would be less accessible on a screen. Having a physical book allows for deeper scrutiny of the book and a more leisurely reading experience. The rushed feeling of "what's next?" that screens inspire in my children goes away when we read a physical book. Additionally, physically turning the pages of Memoirs of a Tortoise complemented the book's pacing in a way that would have been unachievable with a digital copy. I loved seeing my pre-literate kids go back to "read" this book without me because they had complete access to it without relying on me to unlock a screen. This physical media allows my kids, and children generally, to engage with the book's pages even when no one is reading the words to them, and so access to physical books is critical for young readers. I witnessed the impact of Oliver's story in Memoirs of a Tortoise on my children as they engaged in the book independently, brought the book to me to be read again, and asked me questions about the story and its illustrations even days after reading the book.

Scillian, D. (2020). Memoirs of a tortoise (T. Bowers, Illus.). Sleeping Bear Press.