In Search of Tortoise Themed Books!

[TortMom6]

I am having a hard time finding books (novels) that center around a tortoise, or tortoise keeping. I don't mean care/husbandry/how to/science-y books. I'm talking like novels, fiction or non-fiction, sci-fi (I'm envisioning a tortoise in space), mystery, rescue stories, etc. I can find plenty for children and young readers. I'll even settle for short stories. I have over 900 books and not a single novel about tortoises. Something is seriously wrong with that. So I have decided to ask the people who know tortoises the best, you all

I think we need a thread of tortoise themed books (hopefully there isn't already one and I missed it), so that everyone (mostly me) can peruse it and find new books to read. If you know of any, have a favorite, etc. please post it. (Seriously please, I am getting desperate. If I end up having to write something for myself...well it won't end well to say the least. I read not write.)

 

[TortMom6]

In the interest of sharing I'll post the first one:

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart

It is described as:
Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It’s no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London.

When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interesting. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives. Balthazar is in charge and things are not exactly running smoothly. Then Hebe decides to leave him and his beloved tortoise “runs” away.

Filled with the humor and heart that calls to mind the delightful novels of Alexander McCall Smith, and the charm and beauty of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise is a magical, wholly original novel whose irresistible characters will stay with you long after you turn the stunning last page.

 

[Melis]

There are lots of non fiction books on the Galápagos Islands. I read one (I can’t think of the author at the moment) that talked a lot on the wildlife. Not sure if that would fall under the science-y category.

 

[TortMom6]

There are lots of non fiction books on the Galápagos Islands. I read one (I can’t think of the author at the moment) that talked a lot on the wildlife. Not sure if that would fall under the science-y category.

Good suggestion! I'll have to look into Galapagos Island books. They probably would not be to science-y. What I mean by science-y are books like veterinarian care, anatomy, taxonomy, etc.

 

[Yvonne G]

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl (children's book), Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant, Aesop's fable - the Tortoise and the Hare, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.