Philippe Cousteau - Follow the Moon Home: A Tale of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles

To my mother Jan, who has always taught me to question the world around me and constantly challenge myself to make it better P. C.

For Dimitri, who has traveled far to help sea turtles D. H.

For Venus So M. S.

Text copyright 2016 by Philippe Cousteau and Deborah Hopkinson.
Illustrations copyright 2016 by Meilo So.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Cousteau, Philippe, 1980- author.

Follow the moon home / by Philippe Cousteau and Deborah Hopkinson ; illustrated by Meilo So.

pages cm

Summary: A book about loggerhead sea turtles, and a girls attempts to help save their babies from man-made light.Provided by publisher.

Audience: Ages 58

Audience: K to grade 3

ISBN 978-1-4521-1241-1 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4521-5412-1 (epub 2)
ISBN 978-1-4521-5808-2 (mobi)
ISBN 978-1-4521-5809-9 (epub 3)
ISBN 978-1-4521-5810-5 (epib)

1. Loggerhead turtleInfancyJuvenile literature. 2. Rare reptilesJuvenile literature. 3. Child environmentalistsJuvenile literature. 4. Nature conservationCitizen participationJuvenile literature. I. Hopkinson, Deborah, author. II. So, Meilo, illustrator. III. Title.

QL666.C536C68 2016

597.928dc23

2015001678

Design by Jennifer Tolo Pierce
Typeset in Harriet and Paper Cute.

The illustrations in this book were rendered in watercolor, colored ink, and colored pencils.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107

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I always need help finding my way, especially in a new place.

Before long youll feel right at home, Viv.

I WASNT SO SURE.

WELCOME, VIVIENNE! called Mr. J. Youre just in time for the funwere looking for a problem to solve.

I got out my pencil and bit my lip.

I rode my bike ALL OVER TOWN

looking for a problem.

(Mostly I just got

LOST.)

On Saturday, I took Samson and Luna for a run on the beach. (Mostly they pulled me!)

LETS MAKE A GIGANTIC HOLE,

I gasped, plopping down.

My big digger and my little digger sprang into action.

Suddenly it was

raining sand.

Looks like fun, but be sure to fill in that hole, said a man walking by. Its nesting season.

I smoothed out the sand and we all went to look. What do holes have to do with turtles?

ITS BECAUSE OF THE BABIES, said a voice.

I whirled to see a girl from school.

Im Clementine, she reminded me.

Baby sea turtles need a clear path to the sea. Holes and sand castles get in their way.

I didnt know we had sea turtles here. Samson pulled on the leash.

We do. Oh, and look what happened to THIS BABY, cried Clementine.

Why were you going the

wrong way, little one?

Mr. J had told us to use our own eyes, so that night Mom and I went back to the beach.

As darkness fell, we could see bright lights winking on, one by one, along the shore.

THATS IT! I said. THE LIGHTS IN THE IE ACH HTUSES ARE THE PROBLEM.

Why is that? Mom asked.

When baby turtles hatch, they follow the strongest light they see, I explained. So if they head away from the sea, they get dehydrated and die.

My heart sank as I stared at the houses.

There are so many. How can we ask all these people to turn off their lights?

Most of these houses are vacation rentals, Mom said. That means new people come to stay every few days.

Wed have to knock on doors every night!

Clearly, I needed help to solve this problem.

And I knew

JUST HOW TO GET IT.

On Monday morning, Clementine and I raised our hands first. We told the class what wed learned and observed about loggerhead sea turtles.

The sea turtle eggs are starting to hatch, I went on. To save the hatchlings we need the whole class THE WHOLE TOWN to help.

And thats how LIGHTS OUT FOR LOGGERHEADS began.

Our classroom became

THE LOGGERHEAD LAB.

First we gathered lots of information. We read books.

We visited an aquarium and a sea turtle hospital.

We asked someone from the South Carolina Marine

Turtle Conservation Program to speak to our class.

We all brainstormed solutions, choosing the best ideas.

THEN WE GOT TO WORK.

We made posters and delivered them ALL OVER TOWN.

We wrote FACT SHEETS

for all the vacation beach houses.

To pay for printing our flyers and posters, we held a bake sale.

Andy, the coffee shop man, donated a whole pan of his famous granola.

HAPPY TO HELP