Behind the book: Turtle Withoutta Shell

Name: Behind the book: Turtle Withoutta Shell
Uploaded: 2024-09-29T15:45:00+00:00
Duration: 29 s
Channel: Ryan Maloney
Description: Ryan Maloney shares how his picture book about Toby, a turtle without a shell, started as something he almost threw away. Toby tries replacing his shell…

29 Sept 2024 · 0 min

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Ryan Maloney shares how his picture book about Toby, a turtle without a shell, started as something he almost threw away. Toby tries replacing his shell with pasta, rocks, and pizza before accepting himself, inspiring other turtles to envy his freedom. A parent later told Maloney it was their child's favorite book.

This was one of the first picture books I ever created. I didn't think it was any good, so I didn't really tell people about it. And somebody told me a couple years later that it was their kid's favorite book. I didn't believe them, but now I'm sort of into the simplicity of it. It's a story of a turtle named Toby who doesn't have a shell, and everyone makes fun of him for it. So he goes to try to replace his shell with silly things like pasta, rocks, pizza. He tries just about everything, and then he decides he's happy being himself. And all the other turtles are like, "Oh, I wish I could take off my shell."