What a lovely & wholesome read! Perfect middle grade for those aged 4 - 8. I’d definitely pick this book up for young readers. Highly recommend.

Will is a boy who’s struggling when transitioning to a new year at school. His classmates and friends are changing and drifting away from him and he, a normally introvert kid, is finding the natural drift to new friendship groups by his best friend Shirah especially difficult to cope with. He is not able to articulate how the teasing name kids give him: Turtle Boy actually hurts him and he becomes cold and callous in his interactions with his two best friends.

However, Will has an incredible innate bond with the the Back 40 nature reserve behind his school and with the wild turtles who live there. You see the confident Will he was before the bullying and who he could be again. If only he learned to love himself as he is and care for other people just as they are.

To add to this is his fear of the pending operation to fix his facial disfigurement because of his own father’s early death during a routine operation. His fears leads his Rabbi to gently but firmly volunteer him for a community service project for his Bar Mitzvah , in a hospital with a very sick teenager. Will gains empathy and emotional maturity through his unlikely friendship with charming extrovert and punk-rock drummer RJ.

Will is just at the point when he realises that the outside world sees him differently to how he views himself – and that realisation makes him retreat into his shell in self-hatred. It’s the nature of childhood and emotional development: the carefree innocence and strong self-esteem of a young child is often eroded as they realise how the world views them. I often wondered when that child who doesn’t care what people thinks turns into the self-conscious teen, that can often be unrecognisable from the 7 year old you previously knew.

He is Turtle Boy in three ways in the story. His retreat behind a metaphorical shell which he uses to sullenly repel his friends. His literal love of turtles that are his solace and who bring out his nurturing side. Plus the Turtle Boy moniker he gets teased with because of his changing appearance - the condition that changes his jaw and leaves him ‘chinless’.

This book is different from anything else I’ve read because of it’s representation of Jewish Culture – the protagonist and most of the cast of characters are Jewish and Judaism is woven into their school, home and social lives. Their Jewishness is incidental to the story, yet Jewish practices being integral to how Will moves through the world, makes this book one that would intrigue non-Jewish children to learn about, as well as encourage Jewish children to share their experiences more with their peers. In this book we see a positive, full, everyday portrayal of Jewish life as a backdrop, yet integral part of the main character’s identity. This, I feel, is the great benefit of an own voices portrayal of a character.

Death and grief in Turtle Boy are shown through Jewish practices and community – despite Will’s mum’s reticence to help Will with his own grief, having not fully dealt with her own. I feel that the Jewish religion, and Will's relationship with his Rabbi, very naturally and sensitively deal with the emotions of the characters in this book.

It's a wonderful story for any tween to understand emotional intelligence. Resilience and hope were the lasting effect of reading this unique story. Would make a wonderful class read with the resources to support the teacher.

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I absolutely loved this book. It is a very powerful, moving story which includes a wide variety of themes such as loss, friendship, religion and the environment. Even though I was brought to tears a few times, the story is filled with warmth and humour.
For twelve year old Will, the difficulties of navigating high school are made all the more challenging due to a physical condition affecting his chin. He is nicknamed Turtle Boy by bullies at school and, with his self-esteem at rock bottom, he begins to withdraw into his shell. When he unexpectedly befriends terminally ill RJ as part of his preparations for his Bar Mitzvah, he is pushed outside his comfort zone and he learns some valuable life lessons.
The characters and their relationships, both child and adult, are well developed, believable and relatable. The author's note at the end helps explain the sense of authenticity.
This is definitely a book for teachers to add to their 'Read for Empathy' list. I would recommend this to mature Year 5 or Year 6 children particularly due to the themes of grief and loss.

I am glad I took the time to savour this book. It’s a beautifully woven tale of difference, bullying, love and friendship. Yet the author also deals with loss and grief in a perfect way. Illustrating to readers how grief is not a one time thing you deal with, it can crash over you like a wave at totally random times.

I would recommend this book to everyone, it’s not just a kids read. I can see this helping children empathise With others and also process their own emotions. Will and RJ make me want to face my own fears!

“In life, we have moments of truth, where everything is on the line. And when these moments happen, we never have cheat sheets. We only have our instincts and the skills we’ve developed over the years.”

Turtle Boy is a book filled with these moments, giving us a bird’s eye view of the choices Will, our lead character, makes and the subsequent results and emotional impact of these choices. There is no finer phrase to describe this book than an emotional rollercoaster. I did not just cry whilst reading it, I sobbed. I was emotional invested in the characters and I felt their pain as I read.

Our protagonist is a twelve year old boy called Will who has a small facial abnormality. He experiences name calling and taunting and, as a result, has retreated into himself, isolating himself from the world around him. His only pleasures in life are turtles and a local nature reserve. Whilst preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Will is tasked with visiting a teenage boy at a local hospital and this sets in motion a chain of events which force Will to emerge from the shell he has placed himself in.

Reminiscent of Wonder, the book deals with issues such as identify and self-image. It also explores grief and loss. I enjoyed the insight into Judaism also.

I think this book is probably a little too emotionally fraught for my Year 5 pupils, but I would recommend it for pupils in Year 6+. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to access this preview.

Turtle Boy is a carefully crafted, thoughtful story about finding out who you really are and being pushed to reach outside of yourself to find your potential.

Will finds life difficult. As he starts seventh grade, everything seems to pile up on him and nothing is going right – bullying, too many new situations, friends moving on and a frightening medical condition. The only place he finds peace is in his room with his pet turtles or out on the “Back 40” nature reserve behind school. The rest of the time, he just wants to hide inside his hoody and avoid being called “Turtle Boy”.

Then, as a part of his preparation for his Bar Mitzvah, Will meets RJ. As their friendship grows, their similarities and differences create a unique bond. Will learns some incredibly important lessons about himself and about life.

Turtle Boy is a story of inspiration and strength. The issues of life, death, fear and courage are dealt with head on. It is a book full of powerful feelings that reach off the page. Parents and teachers should be mindful of this when sharing this book with more vulnerable children. Through the story of Will and RJ, readers will come to realise that in helping another person, we gain much in return. Often, it is easy to become self-centred and focussed on our own needs. When we reach out, we understand more about other people and, in turn, more about ourselves. Life is for living to the fullest. Something might be scary but if we take a chance, we may just find ourselves on the most incredible journey.

Thank you to Usborne Publishing and NetGalley for this thought-provoking book.

I took a very long time to get into this book, but I kept going and it was worth it. It was less realistic than many of the books in this genre and at times, I found Will and some of his decisions quite unlikely and irritating. I felt that there perhaps could've been more information about Will's condition and less about his school friendships, which seemed to go up and down without really knowing why. It's worth a read, but be prepared for a book trying to cover lots of issues and the title one not necessarily being the main focus.

Twelve-year-old Will likes two things: turtles and the local nature reserve. Everything else is a nightmare, because Will has a facial difference that has earned him an unfortunate nickname. But when Will’s Bar Mitzvah community service project introduces him to RJ, a boy who is confined to a hospital room, Will discovers they both have strength to lend the other and that life is too short to live in a shell.
I'm a one of the 10 Usborne Fiction Champions and I have just shared my review of Turtle Boy in Fiction Fans. It's out in a couple of weeks but I think it will be a sell out! Here's my review. Pop over to fiction fans to read other (significantly better written) reviews :-)

My Review: I binge read it.... what else do you need to know? 🤣😍

I have been looking forward to this for ages and it did not disappoint! There is a lot of rubbish America children's fiction out there but thee one's that make it to Usborne are amazing!

As I started reading Turtle Boy I began to think about the similarities with Freak the Mighty (another American middle grade fiction. Read it, unless you are in the EU😞) I quite often middle grade books and imagine reading them as a class read. This is a definite class read.

Will, the main character is really not very likeable. It's not so common to have a not very likeable main character. He has a condition that requires him to have an operation but he tells no one. He is teased for the way he looks but he is not very kind to his friends and spends his time feeling sorry for himself. You want to feel for him as he has a condition. We are told to be kind to people if they are different or have something wrong with them, but if that person does not want to accept the kindness then it's really hard to do, and Will very easily turns his friends and everyone away. Shirah and Max are his main friends but they can't help Will as he won't let them in. Will loves turtles but has taken wild turtles to be companions for himself which of course throws another dimension to the story.

I am not Jewish and don't know much about Judaism, but I got a real insight into Judaism as being Jewish is a big part of the story and Will's life. Will is getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah along with his peers at the synagogue. He hates it all. He wants to hide away from himself and everyone. But the Rabbi who is a pretty smart cookie, hits on something that might just make Will realise how selfish he is being and teach him some lessons in compassion as well as making a new friend.

Meet RJ, ,who is dying and in the hospital. Will has to complete 40 hours community service and his "job" is to visit RJ. From something that started as a chore and a fear of hospitals (Will's dad died when he was 4 after a routine operation), RJ's no nonsense approach and his view of life and how Will can help him, starts to change Will. His "can't do/woe is me" attitude starts to shift and becomes an "I can" attitude as RJ asks his to do seemigly impossible tasks.

Will and his mum don't do talking and when he wants to know things about his dad his mum changes the subject. She also doesn't take time to understand his feelings about how he looks and says he looks just fine. The loneliness Will feels from this just fuels his "woe is me" attitude.

It all comes together in a heartbreakingly sad but uplifing way when Will begins to understand why RJ is asking his to do what he does, and also his friends and his mum. His speech at his Bar Mitzvah is one to be proud of.

I LOVED this book and I knew it would make me cry and it did. There are so much discussion potential around the themes of death, bullying, friendship, family, problem sharing, growing up, and a big one for me: pushing comfort zones so much that confidence just oozes. It's a bit like Usborne!

I would really recommend this book to age 10 plus readers and definitely a great schools/book club book.

I also love the fact that the book is written about real life experience. The author has based it on his own experiences so it is "real". There are some great discussion questions at the back too.

Now off to find out more about the medical conditions that are written about in the book. By the way I think the UK cover is way nicer than the US cover 😊

Turtle Boy is the heartwarming story of a young boy's journey out of his shell, which will appeal to fans of Wonder. Will is an anxious boy who prefers the company of turtles to people his own age. He freezes up in conversations, avoids anything that makes him feel nervous, and is relentlessly bullied about his appearance. When Will begins visiting terminally-ill RJ in hospital, on the insistence of his Rabbi, he is slowly drawn out of his comfort-zone and begins to connect with others.

I was not prepared for how wonderful Turtle Boy would be, and was utterly absorbed by this touching story which I think will be very popular in schools.

Turtle Boy celebrates being yourself and learning not to shut the world out. Over the course of the novel, Will begins to make friends and let others in. His friendship with RJ forces him to have new experiences, even if they scare him, and I think lots of readers will find Will's character growth inspirational. He was also a vividly real character, with an anxiety-riddled internal-monologue that lots of readers will relate to, especially the way he freezes mid-conversation and can't think what to say next, and his arguments with his mum.

Turtle Boy is also an emotional story, and brought me to tears in multiple chapters. Wolkenstein handles difficult subject matters, such as grief and terminal illness body dysmorphia, with great sensitivity, and I would not hesitate to recommend this story.

Will is only truly happy when rambling through the nature area beside his school and caring for his turtles. He’s an introvert whose main aims are to avoid mixing with his peers especially the one that pick on him and trying to avoid the subject of his important facial surgery. Initially he resents being made to befriend RJ, a sick boy in hospital as part of a volunteering programme in the run up to his Bar Mitzvah. But RJ’s unique determination to enjoy life slowly starts to draw out Will from under his physical and mental layers of hiding.

It’s a wondrous tale of friendship, bravery, personal acceptance with a smattering of environmental good deeds to take you on an emotional roller-coaster.

Wolkenstein also deals with the subject of grief in such a sensitive and heart-warming way, it never felt too preachy or heavy-handed. I could see how this book could make a huge impact, it’s such a satisfying read. I absolutely adored this story right from the delightful cover, the trials & tribulations of Will’s relationships, to the author’s note at the end. It had me in tears as it’s such a powerful story told in a way that will not only appeal to the target audience but will help them learn about so many important subjects while probably making them wish they had a turtle too. Okay, maybe that last part could just be me! Oh and the wee turtle drawings throughout are lovely.

This was such a positive reading experience.

Twelve-year-old Will is approaching his Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish “coming of age” ritual for boys, and as he faces this great milestone in his life, he also faces another change: vital surgery to alter a facial difference which has earned Will the dreadful nickname “Turtle Boy”. If anything Will’s love of turtles and his incredible knowledge of how to care for them should have earned him such a nickname, but Will is relentlessly bullied for the shape of his chin. For his Bar Mitzvah community service, Will is asked to visit RJ, a boy struggling with his own incurable illness, but his own anxiety around hospitals holds him back. Although Will dreads the experience and the boys don’t get along at first, it’s not long before they realise that their very different personalities can help one another at a time when both boys desperately need a friend. As RJ gradually opens up to Will about his illness, he shares his bucket list of things he’s never done and Will promises to help RJ achieve his dreams in the short time he has left... Starting with a pet turtle!

Writing from his own experiences, Wolkenstein captures the gut-wrenching anxiety that Will experiences as he begins to push himself out of his comfort zone in order to help his dying friend. The incredibly mature topics which are discussed in this book feel like they should have been impossible to pitch to a middle-grade audience: terminal illness, death, loss, grief to name but a few. But Wolkenstein writes about these hardships in such an accessible way for his audience, allowing Will to feel the confusion and conflicting emotions that we all feel in difficult times, and presenting different outlets for Will’s grief and heartache. It’s so vitally important that books cover these difficult topics so those who experience them feel represented and these emotions are normalised and those who don’t experience them develop empathy and have the opportunity to feel these big emotions through characters like Will and RJ. I also appreciated a Jewish protagonist and the inclusion of so much Jewish culture—I learned so much about another faith and community and I knew very little about.

Although this is a book full of grief and heartache, it’s also full of friendship, connection, love, bravery and hope. I’d have a box of tissues at the ready for the sadder moments, and be ready to have big discussions around grief and loss if shared with a young audience. Perfect for fans of Wonder and The Goldfish Boy.