One Turtle's Last Straw by Elisa Boxer and Marta Alvarez Miguens

One Turtle's Last Straw The Real-Life Rescue that Sparked a Sea Change by Elisa Boxer, illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens. PICTURE BOOK. Crown Books for Young Readers (Random), 2022. 18. 9780593372463

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

This non-fiction book starts off by explaining, just by accident, how a plastic straw makes its way into the ocean. Turtles hunt using their sense of smell. As this straw falls into the ocean, a turtle happens to be swimming by and accidentally inhales the straw up its nostril. It can't smell and therefore has a hard time finding food. Luckily, some marine biologists were nearby and were able to pull the straw from the turtle's nose.

There is an Author's Note and short articles about how to stop polluting the ocean. I really enjoyed this book because it was about a real-life event that changed how we view and act about pollution getting into our waters. The story was fun and engaging even while teaching the reader an important story. My 3 yr. old loved it and felt very bad for the turtle.

A. Criswell, English Language Teacher