When the party was over, everyone left, and the tortoise has no means of going home. The tortoise jumped from the sky and landed on hard rocks on the earth and shattered his shell. He became so sick and spent so many months behind the rocks. Although he got better, his shell became cracked and patchy. This is why the tortoises shell is patchy.

An African folklore about the story of the greedy Tortoise/ Turtle. Before now the Tortoise has always had a very beautiful and smooth shell. Discover through this African folklore, how the Tortoise cracked his shell and ever since it's has remained cracked.

A rain forest fable from Caldecott medalist Gerald McDermott

Delightful retellings of turtle tales from around the world, plus fun facts about turtles, are sure to please all turtle fans.

Choctaw variant of Aesop's fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, in which Turkey assists Turtle in defeating Rabbit.

Three African Tales: The Tortoise Shell; Why the Frog Has No Tail; The Sun, the Moon, and the Water.

A talkative tortoise lets his vanity win out over common sense in this tale of why the tortoise has a cracked shell. This is a retelling of the traditional Indian tale.

A nicely crafted story of the tortoise 'at its best' - mischief. Written in simple English. Brilliantly illustrated for children to enjoy and relate with. Suitable for the classroom, play groups, as well as bed time.

“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order. With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.