Carey the Sea Turtle

Written in collaboration with the students of Fabretto’s programs in San Isidro, Nicaragua

Copyright © 2011 by Dot-to-Dot Children’s Books, Denver, Colorado

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, and information storage and retrieval systems, with-out written permission from the publisher. For information regarding permission, please contact Dot-to-Dot Children's Books at info@dot-to-dot-books.org.

Printed in the United States of America.

Illustrated by Bill McCaffrey

Library of Congress Control Number: ISBN 13: 978-0-9842146-_-_ISBN 10: 0-9842146-_-_

Pictured Above, the Co-Authors of CAREY THE SEA TURTLE: María Fernanda Rivas, María Amalia Orozco, Kevin Reyes Zamora,Josseling Silva López, Rita Escorcia Gutiérrez, José Ariel Corea Zambrana, Jennifer Aracely Velásquez, Oriana Velásquez Corea, Leticia Silva López, Eliécer Mauricio Salgado Cabrera, Jennifer Silva López, Marlon Antonio Velásquez, Kennssy Isamar Picado Leiva, Jader Javier Jarquín, Josseling María Velásquez López, Jennifer María Alvarado Hernández, Ricardo José Bravo González, Henry Palacios, Ofilio Antonio Solís Jirón, Francisco Enrique Montiel Mercado, Freddy Ezequiel Leiva Bustamante, Israel Antonio Centeno Gutiérrez, Darwin Vallecillo Larios, Nancy del Socorro Maltez, Eveling Vasquez, Jean Carlos Maltez Martinez, Juan Jose Maltez, Mario Silva Lopez, Maria Isabel Perez, Vivian Ivonne Mora, Lene D'Trinidad, Abraham Murillo, Anielka del Rosario Gutierrez Rivas, Katherin Lugo, Fabricio Antonio Ordonez Munoz, Maycol Jose R.,Scarleth Paola, Jarvin, Ingris Palacio, Rosa Jenny Lanza, Jose Dolores, Helleng Martinez, Gabriel Alejandro Bustamante

About this Book

Hello Friends!

This book was written by young the students from Nicaragua who are pictured to the left. After learning about endangerd hawksbill sea turtles, they wrote their own fun stories featuring turtles. Our Creative Writing Team edited our favorite parts of their stories into the book you are about to read, Carey the Sea Turtle.

At the end of this book you can explore the world of hawksbill sea turtles and Nicaragua. You can also learn more about the authors of this story and Patricia Aradones, the Executive Director of Fabretto - Spain, the organization that is providing this book's authors with a great education.

The team at Dot-to-Dot Children’s Books hopes you enjoy Carey the Sea Turtle

Upcoming Changes:General: Title of book to be changed and color illustrations to be added for all pages by mid-February. Note that the details of the black-and-white illustrations will be different in the final color illustrations.

Layout of text will be re-done for all of the illustrated pages..

Background color for all background materials will be changed.

Page 28-29: Turtle pictures to be replacedPage 30: Profile of WCS conservationist to be added.Page 31: Formatting re-done and improved.Page 33: To be reviewed by FabrettoPage 35: To be reviewed by BRAC and updatd w/ picture and info from PatriciaPage 38: Names of everyone who helped added.

Far to the south of the United States—past Mexico, past

Guatemala, even past Honduras—lies a green and beautiful

land called Nicaragua. This is the story of a sea turtle born on

Nicaragua’s sea coast, in the clear waters of the Pearl Keys.

Carey the Sea Turtle

Written in collaboration with the Fabretto students of San Isidro de Bolas

Illustrated by Bill McCaffrey

Carey and his brothers and sistsers shined their bald

turtle heads and brushed off their shells. They smiled,

hearing the calm water of the ocean nearby.

One by one, they climbed over the bumpy sand toward

the ocean. The turtles knew that this ocean was to be

their big new home.

One night, Carey was born on a

beautiful beach of the Pearl Keys.

He had not one or two, but 99

brothers and sisters. They were all

born as the moon shone bright in

the sky -- crack! crack! CRACK!

The turtles blinked the sand from their eyes and

climbed out of their next into the moonlilght.

As Carey flopped across the sand, he suddenly heard the call

of a bird. In front of him, two huge seagulls sat on a rock,

watching the turtles. Near the shore, other seagulls swooped

and grabbed up little crabs in their sharp beaks.

Carey knew right away that these were very, very

dangerous birds. He waited, watching the birds

and thinking about what to do.

Carey had to reach the water somehow, but he was

very scared. As quickly as he could, he raced down

the beach along with his family.

Carey had to reach the water somehow, but he was

very scared. As quickly as he could, he raced down the

beach along with his family.

Finally, he squeezed out and felt himself falling. Carey landed

back on the beach with a thud, dizzy and confused. He moved

first in one direction, and then another, but could not tell if

he was going anywhere at all.

“Where am I?” he thought.

Lights shone on Carey’s face from far, far, far away.

“That must be the light of stars on the ocean!” thought Carey,

excited. With new energy, he moved as quickly as he could

toward the light.

With that, the boy dropped Carey into a dark bucket. He couldn’t

see a thing and began to cry salty tears. “I should never have tried

to follow the lights,” he cried. “If only I could find the ocean and

be home now.”

Hawksbill Sea Turtles

The Hawksbill sea turtle has many adaptations

that make it an excellent swimmer and hunter.

Its wide flippers help it dive quickly down to

coral reefs and then back up to the surface to

get a breath of air. They also have a narrow

beak that they use to probe cracks in coral reefs

for their favorite food—sea sponges.

Turtle Facts

Life span: 30-50 years in the wild

Weight and size: 3 feet long and weighs about 150 pounds

Diet: omnivore - sea sponges, fish, mollusks, sea plants

Habitat: areas surrounding coral reefs

Female turtles go back to the exact beach where

they were born to lay their eggs. In their nests,

or “clutches” they can lay up to 150 eggs. They

use their back flippers to dig the holes for their

nests. After being buried, the eggs will take two months to hatch. Sea turtle babies are

about as long as your thumb. When they are born, they walk straight to the open ocean

and swim away. After a few years, they return to the coast to live in coral reefs.

Endangered: Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Non-human threat:

Turtle eggs are hunted by many

predators, including dogs, cats, pigs,

chickens and rats. Crabs and birds also

grab the babies as they make their dash

over the sand to the sea. In the water,

turtles have to watch out for hungry fish

and diving birds that want to eat them.

The biggest threat to the hawksbill when

they grow up is sharks. Sharks attack the

turtle’s flippers, hurting them so badly

that they can not swim away.

Human threat:

Man is the biggest threat to a sea turtle.

Sea turtles’ beautiful shells are used for

jewelry and their eggs are considered

a delicacy to be eaten. Humans also

threaten the turtles by destroying reefs

where the sponges they eat grow and

building on the beaches turtles use as

nesting sites. The sea turtles are also

affected by commercial fishermen who

use nets that turtles get caught in drown.

The Hawksbill sea turtle is endangered because of two types of threats, human and non-human.

On the Frontlines of Conservation

PROFILE OF WCS CONSERVATIONIST TO BE INSERTED HERE ONCE RECEIVED

COUNTRY FACTS

CONTiNeNT: South America

CApiTAl CiTY: Managua

OFFiCiAl lANgUAgeS: Spanish

NeighbORiNg COUNTRieS: Costa Rica, Honduras

Did you know?

• Nicaragua has many volcanoes and there are about 19 that are still active.

• Nicaragua is a country full of amazing wildlife, with animals like sloths, monkeys,

and sea turtles. Nicaragua is one of the most important breeding places for turtles.

• One of the most popular food dishes in Nicaragua is rice and beans. In Spanish it’s

called gallo pinto.

Where in the world is NICARAGUA?

Get to Know the Authors!

40 third and fourth graders from San Isidro de Bolas, Nicaragua

helped write CAREY THE SEA TURTLE. Half of the children attend

an elementary school named after their small community and the

other half attend a school named after the famous Nicaraguan poet

and diplomat, Felix Ruben. During our writing workshop, the students

worked very hard to write stories about sea turtles. They also drew

colorful pictures for their stories.

To celebrate the end of the writing workshop, the students from the

Felix Ruben School traveled to San Isidro de Bolas in small taxis called

tuk-tuks. At the Turtle Party, the students wore turtle hats and played

games.

Each of the students who helped write CAREY THE SEA TURTLE

receives a great education because of the work of the Fabretto Children’s

Foundation. In the pages that follow, you will learn more about how

Fabretto has worked to help more than 7,000 children in Nicaragua.

To find out what you can do to help promote education in Nicaragua

and protect Hawksbill Sea Turtles, visit our website.

About Fabretto: The Power behind the School

The schools of San Isidro de Bolas, Nicaragua, where students wrote their sea turtle stories, are very lucky schools. They are supported by the Fabretto organization, a group of people in Nicaragua and the United States who feel a deep need for stronger education in Nicaragua.

Through this organization, students have the opportunity to get a good education and achieve their full potential. At school, students receive books, pencils, food, and most importantly, a place to learn.

Read on to learn about the leader of this group!

A Strong Female Leader

Organizations need strong leaders, and in the case of Fabretto, Patricia Aragones is exactly that.

Details from interview w/ Patricia...

Patricia with some of the students at one of Fabretto’s schools in Nicaragua.

Meet Patricia Aragones, Executive of the Fabretto Children’s Foundation - Spain

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Go to www.dot-to-dot-books.org to learn about ways that you can get involved and help make a difference too!

Here are some activities to help you unlock a world of learning for your student or child:

• Search through fun and engaging activities for your classroom or home created by our education partner, Facing the Future. Facing the Future develops educational materials to help kids find inspiration and develop a global perspective as they learn critical thinking skills through lessons about global issues and sustainability. Explore these materials by using the pass code on the back cover of this book to access them on our website.

• Explore the Wildlife Conservation Society website to learn more about their development and conservation work. See how you can work together to help to prevent the extinction of sea turtles.

• Discuss some of the topics from this story with your kids. Ask them to compare their lives to what they imagine life is like in Nicaragua. Take them to a zoo to see endangered species in person. Help them identify endangered wildlife in your country and brainstorm ideas about how to reduce threats to them.

For more activities, information about Nicaragua, and suggestions to build global awareness with your kids, please visit our website: www.dot-to-dot-books.org.

For Parents and Teachers

Carey the Sea Turtle is part of an eight-book project called Endangered Species, Empowered Communities produced by Dot-to-Dot Children’s Books. As a nonprofit organization, we are dedicated to developing children’s literature that raises cultural awareness and generates funding for the communities that produce the content for the books we publish. Our team conducted workshops with young women and children in eight countries around the world to write narratives involving a local endangered species. We then amassed the core elements of those narratives and wove them into a unified story that was then reviewed by children’s literature and conservation experts.

At Dot-to-Dot Children’s Books, we believe that it’s never too early for children to learn about the world and its cultures, countries, and ecosystems. We hope that the Endangered Species, Empowered Communities Project will help children jump-start their curiosity about life beyond their own community and build an awareness about what they can do to make the world a better place. Our goal is to use stories to inspire a new generation of leaders as we help to empower the communities that wrote the stories.

Don’t miss the seven other stories in this series. Each book features an endangered species in the country where it was written and includes information about the work that is being done to protect that animal. To find out what you can do and for fun activities related to the Endangered Species, Empowered Communities collection, please visit: www.dot-to-dot-books.org.

About the Endangered Species, Empowered Communities Project

Thank You!

Many thanks to all of the people around the world who helped to bring Carey the Sea Turtle to life.