My sea-life loving niece did not get to listen to this story tonight (math homework had to take precedence), but I know that this is a book that she would have adored! It's a great choice for kids in the lower elementary grades. The story is good, and the illustrations are very lovely.My nephew and I "read" this book tonight, though. He is four, and I do think that the text of this story would have been far too lengthy to hold his attention, so we just looked at the pictures and laid out the story as we thought the pictures were telling it. We had a great time sharing this book, and he was thrilled to see the baby turtle grow, survive and thrive to become a mother herself. He was really tickled by that whole life-cycle thing. When we were done with the book I asked him how many stars he'd like to give this one, and he said, "One thousand!" When I asked him why so many, he said, "Because it was very cute!"