Tortoise Trouble

by Joan Lingard, Paul Howard (Illustrator)

Robble loves his life in the country, and is appalled by the idea of moving to Edinburgh. With no space and no sun to bask in, his pet tortoise, Herman, will be equally perturbed by the change. The new house and school look grim, and the class bullies are quick to pick on him. At first, the only consolation is the time he spends with Herman in the back yard. But when his teacher asks the class to write about their pets, Robbie's story about Herman, and recent reports of tortoise thefts, intrigue his classmates. With a few new friends, things are looking up. Then one afternoon, Herman goes missing. Perhaps he's been the victim of a tortoise gang—or is the culprit is closer to home?

111 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Joan Lingard was born in Edinburgh, in the Old Town, but grew up in Belfast where she lived until she was 18. She attended Strandtown Primary and then got a scholarship into Bloomfied Collegiate. She has three daughters and five grandchildren, and now lives in Edinburgh with her Canadian husband.

Lingard has written novels for both adults and children. She is probably most famous for the teenage-aimed Kevin and Sadie series, which have sold over one million copies and have been reprinted many times since.

Her first novel Liam's Daughter was an adult-orientated novel published in 1963. Her first children's novel was The Twelfth Day of July (the first of the five Kevin and Sadie books) in 1970.

Lingard received the prestigious West German award the "Buxtehuder Bulle" in 1986 for Across the Barricades. Tug of War has also received great success: shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 1989, The Federation of Children's Book Group Award 1989, runner up in the Lancashire Children's Book Club of the year 1990 and shortlisted for the Sheffield Book Award. In 1998, her book Tom and the Tree House won the Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award. Her most recent novel, What to Do About Holly was released in August 2009.

Lingard was awarded an MBE in 1998 for services to children's literature.

Reviews

[Sharjeel Haider Jaffri · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day, Robbie didn't want to leave his cottage. Robbie's mother packed things, but Robbie didn't want to leave anything. His mom asked angrily, "Why are you packing the old toys?" Robbie felt very sad. Then Robbie's mother hugged him. Robbie's tortoise, Herman, was in a cage with glass sides, which was open at the top. Suddenly, the van arrived. Robbie felt very sad because he used to live on the top floor, but now he would be living in a basement, which is below ground level. However, they arrived at their new house, and Robbie went outside with Herman. When Robbie went outside, he saw a girl with ginger hair skipping rope. The next day, Robbie went to a new school. He met Miss Lawson and felt very sad because his classmates talked with each other and didn't talk to him. One day, Robbie saw a newspaper with an article about a tortoise on the road. An aunt picked it up and brought it to his house. He didn't feed the tortoise, and it died. The police came and he went to jail. Everyone said that this wasn't a good thing. Robbie's friend Greg Mackie went to his house, and they played with their friend. Suddenly, Robbie's mom said, "Go and bring the milk." Robbie and Greg Mackie went to the shop, and Greg Mackie stole a tortoise. Robbie was very sad. He said, "We can go to Ginger's house. She has stolen my tortoise." The police went to her house, saw the tortoise, and arrested her.

[Mohsin Sardar]

Rrrrrrr

[Moeed]

chapter 7

[Sulaiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

good