Tommy Turtle

About the Book

Tommy Turtle is a shy land turtle who likes to hide inside his shell. Tommy represents children who are shy around other children and adults, and he is nervous to play or speak. Most children are shy from time to time and it's important for children to understand shyness and how to act around others who are or aren't shy. Children need to know that shyness is normal, and they need positive encouragement from peers, family, and teachers/adults in their lives. This concept teaching can start in preschool. Children need to develop and practice social skills which will increase their quality of life in school through drama class, music, gym class, show and tell time, play time and more, rather than staying on the sidelines and simply watching others and having less friends and social isolation. If confidence is learned, self-esteem increases, and children succeed. Less confidence promotes increased shyness. It is essential to praise children for their successes and not shame them at all when they fail. All social and emotional learning helps children to express feelings and be tuned in to the needs of others. This teaching contributes to the development of all children. Social acceptance and inclusion are important in social learning from an early age. The opportunity to interact with your child/children in a positive environment, such as the park in this story, illustrates the importance of a positive environment in aiding children with learning social skills with other children and adults. Tommy Turtle helps parents and teachers reinforce positive behaviors in an imaginative setting of a park and mud puddles as they learn about land turtles and shyness. Learning and sharing are essential for social development in all children.

About the Author :
Mary L. Schmidt writes under the name of S. Jackson along with her husband, Michael, pen name A Raymond, and Mary L. Schmidt. She grew up in a small Kansas (USA) town and has lived in more than one state since then. At this time, Ms. Schmidt and her husband split their time between Kansas and Colorado (they love the mountains and off-road 4-wheeling). Traveling is one of her favorite things to do and she always has a book or even three books to read, in the same week. She drew paper dolls and clothes for them, and with watercolor as her medium when painting scenes, especially flowers. She continued with art in high school exploring a wide variety of arts and loved it! Her creative side loves to be an amateur "shutterbug" and they have an online art gallery. In college, she went into the sciences of all things and received a bachelor's degree in the Science of Nursing. Her nursing career was phenomenally successful, and she hung up her nursing hat in December 2012.She is a retired registered nurse; a member of the Catholic Church and has taught kindergarten Catechism; she has worked in various capacities for The American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Cub, and Boy Scouts, (son, Gene, is an Eagle Scout), and sponsored trips for high school music children. She loves all forms of art but mostly focuses on the visual arts, such as amateur photography, traditional, and graphic art as her health allows.She has written sixty-one books with others in various stages of production, and she is included in four anthologies. Mary L. Schmidt writes under the name of S. Jackson along with her husband Michael, pen name A Raymond. She grew up in a small Kansas (USA) town and I lived in more than one state since then. At this time, my husband and I split our time between Kansas and Colorado (we love the mountains and off road 4-wheeling). Traveling is one of our most favorite things to do and I always have a book or even three books that I read, in the same week. Books were really my thing. It seemed like every time I turned around, I was obtaining a new library card due to the current one being stamped complete. Diving into a good book made any day perfect and you would be surprised at the number of books I read over and over. I drew paper dolls and clothes for them, and using watercolor as my medium when painting scenes, especially flowers. I continued with art in high school exploring a wide variety of arts and I loved it! The creative side of me loves to be an amateur "shutter-bug" and we have an online art gallery. In college I went into the sciences of all things and received a bachelor's degree in the Science of Nursing. My nursing career was highly successful, and I hung up my nursing hat in December 2012. They love writing books and spending time with their grandchildren, Austin, and Emma.