• Age: 0 to 3
• Grade: p

Being a sea turtle takes patience and pluck, as young readers learn in this enchanting board book. A companion to Saffy, which featured a baby giraffe, this book introduces Totty, the smallest of all the sea turtle babies and the last one to hatch. His brothers and sisters are already far down the beach, crawling toward the sea. As they get smaller and smaller, Totty redoubles his efforts to catch up. But it seems impossible! Will Totty find a way? Award-winning artist Paola Opal’s charming artwork makes Totty an instant friend to little readers, and the simple, rhythmic text makes the book one they’ll return to again and again.

I am a Dutch-Canadian artist, author, and designer. I love creating stories that encourage inner resourcefulness, compassion, and self-empowerment. I have been a professional graphic designer for over 15 years, working on a wide range of projects from corporate marketing to themed attractions. I also illustrate and paint in a number of styles. My first book deal (for "One Little Bug") resulted from an art show at which some of my illustrations were noticed by the publisher Simply Read Books. Under the pen name Paola Opal, I illustrate and write the Simply Small series, published by Simply Read Books. Bold and bright, these board books feature baby animals that find clever ways to solve their not-so-small problems. The series has over 50, 000 books in print and two of the titles have been produced as apps.

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