Picture Books for Adults to Ponder and Enjoy: Part Two

By Eileen Smith, Library Committee

Last month I wrote about children’s picture books on anxiety and autism that adults could find both informative and entertaining. This month, I am revisiting an award-winning picture book—with a Minnesota author, illustrator, and publisher—that was published 30 years ago and immediately became beloved by readers young and old alike.
 
In 1992, author Douglas Wood of Sartell and artist Cheng-Khee Chee of Duluth collaborated to bring us the story of Old Turtle, the first in the “Lessons of Old Turtle” trilogy. The theme of Old Turtle is both religious/philosophical and ecological. It is a meditation in simple, moving words and beautiful, elegant watercolors on the need for religious tolerance and the care of the earth, its creatures, and the environment—reminders needed at least as much today as they were three decades ago.
 
You can find Old Turtle and its sequels--Old Turtle and the Broken Truth and Old Turtle: Questions of the Heart—on the Recent & Relevant shelves this week. Suitable for ages 4-104.