The picture book, Turtles in My Sandbox is ideal for elementary school students—particularly 2nd-5th graders and can help provide motivating literary context that enhances students' understanding of environmental issues (Goal 6b of Maryland's VSC). Even students unable to participate directly in the terrapin raise and release program can use the book and the website to study certain aspects of environmental science and to develop an appreciation for issues pertaining to the both the positive and negative impact of humans on the environment. Jennifer's highly interactive presentation can help enhance this experience.

To request a visit to your school or organization—and to help your students imagine finding turtle eggs in their own backyard—please contact Jennifer directly at jcurtis@cablespeed.com or 410.626.7657.

About the Author Jennifer Keats Curtis wants to help bring children close to the animals in their own backyards. By combining language arts with science in a storybook setting, she hopes to bring this Gulf Coast and Atlantic species to life, to help young children understand important ecological issues and what they can do to help.

Her first book on oyster siblings and their quest to save the Chesapeake Bay, Oshus and Shelly Save the Bay, won the Frederick Douglass Award (Maryland Council of Teachers of English Language Arts). Besides writing children's stories, Jennifer writes for a wide variety of magazines, Maryland Life Magazine, It's Your Life, and Corridor, Inc. During in-school visits, she can help teachers and students address literary issues as well as those pertaining to the terrapins.