A mother turtle swims to shore. She digs a hole in a dune where she lays
one hundred eggs. Following her instinct, she covers the eggs with sand
and slowly makes her way back to sea. What happens next, from eggs to
hatchlings, is one of the most extraordinary occurrences in nature. For
the eggs provide food for other animals, and the eggs that survive
produce hatchlings that, again, provide food for birds and crabs. Even
those hatchlings that make it to the ocean face an uncertain future.
Lyrical text and dramatic paintings give young readers an understanding
of how turtles give birth and how the young fight for survival in this
winner of the Maryland Blue Crab Young Readers' Award.