This is mail that all writers welcome:
Fire Chief — You’ve Got Mail!
Fire Chief has mail! Children in New Castle, Washington write to him: We hope you’re doing better after your accident…. We loved the story of Fire Chief…. Do you have friends in your pond?
Sy enjoyed talking with Lindsey Siegele of Bioneers:
I think most of us begin life seeing animals as individuals. As children, that comes naturally. But somewhere along the way, many adults lose that way of seeing. For a long time, science itself reinforced the idea that an animal was simply a representative of its species, not a unique being. Behavioral research used to treat animals that way, and frankly, I think the researchers themselves knew it was nonsense.
That began to change in a very visible way when Jane Goodall went into the field in 1960 and refused to number the chimpanzees she studied. She named them…. Today, especially in field biology, the first thing you’re taught is to figure out who’s who. Otherwise, nothing you observe will make sense.
In that regard, I don’t think I have changed very much since I was a child. I’ve always believed animals are individuals. What can be challenging is recognizing individuality in species that are very unlike us — reptiles, or marine invertebrates, for example. But once you pay attention, it becomes undeniable. Every octopus I’ve met has had a completely distinct personality. The same is true of turtles.
Read the rest of the short interview here.
Sy talked to the Save Wildlife Organization. Here’s part of a short, insightful interview:If Sy’s philosophy has a mascot, it isn’t the octopus from her bestselling memoir or the dolphins who guided her in the Amazon. It’s a 42-pound snapping turtle named Fire Chief.
When Sy first met him, Fire Chief was recovering in a turtle hospital after being hit by a car. His shell had cracked; his tail and back legs were paralyzed. A banana dropped into his hospital tank triggered a “cruise missile” attack from the depths on the fruit.
Later, she and artist Matt Patterson were assigned to help with his physical therapy — walking him, monitoring his shell, steadying him as his nerves slowly healed.
The first time they lifted him, instinct yelled: don’t get bitten. Snapping turtles are ancient, powerful, unpredictable.
And then something happened.
“We both felt the same thing at once,” Sy says. “We could reach out and pat the head of the snapping turtle and stroke his neck.”
It wasn’t magic. It was recognition — a moment of trust exchanged across 200 million years of reptile evolution.
“You would not want to do that with a wild 42-pound snapping turtle,” she says, “but he was an individual wild 42-pound snapping turtle.”
In fifteen minutes, Fire Chief had decided they were safe.
This is Sy’s thesis in a single heartbeat: the distance between species isn’t fixed. Sometimes it collapses in the space of a gesture.
And:
Sy Montgomery has spent her life listening — to turtles, to octopuses, to dolphins, to tigers, to the childhood intuition that the world was full of minds. Her gift isn’t merely that she writes about these beings. It’s that she treats them as neighbors, not symbols; individuals, not metaphors; teachers, not props.
If her work has a mission, it is this: to remind us that we live in a world of other consciousnesses, and our lives get larger — more vivid, more connected, more whole — when we recognize them.
The rest is awe. And awe, as Sy reminds us, is everywhere.
Fire Chief is the pick of the year
Fire Chief is the pick of the year. Kirkus Reviews choses The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle as one of the “Best Picture Books of 2025 for Animal Lovers.”
Says Kirkus, “In the annals of true animal rescue tales, this one delights and uplifts.”
Congratulations again to our favorite 42-pound snapper! The National Science Teachers’ Association and the Children’s Book Council named Fire Chief’s life story, The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle, an Outstanding Science Trade Book of the year.
That pig. The Good Good Pig has just seen the 26th printing of the trade paperback. There are now just under 130,000 paperback copies in print.
Fire Chief is Honored Back Home
The Cumberland, R.I., fire station celebrated their old neighbor, Fire Chief. The star of The True and Lucky Life of Turtle began his life in two ponds right by the firehouse. The firefighters saw him grow up, and when he was hit by a car, they called the Turtle Rescue League.
Fire Chief didn’t make this homecoming, but he sent his ambassadors.
Sy and Matt gave three separate talks to different age groups of K-8 students at the Chesterfield School in Chesterfield, N.H. Matt also lead a paint-along session. Thanks to a generous grant, every student received a signed copy of The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle. The visit was arranged by Bettina Ramsay, reading specialist, who was named Teacher of the Year by the Harris Center.
Welcome to the World of Sy Montgomery
Sy was given a royal welcome in Utah by the Ogden School Foundation – they even recreated Christopher Hogwood and his barn. As part of her visit, Sy met with the winners of this year’s essay contest for 5th and 6th graders: “How to be a Good Creature — Lessons that we can learn from the animals around us.”
Sy told reporter Rob Nielsen from the Ogden Standard-Examiner:
“I look at our young people, not just as leaders of tomorrow, but as leaders of today,” she said. “We certainly need better leaders than the ones we have right now. We need people with compassion, we need people with vision, we need people with conviction, courage and we need people who understand and care about our earth and don’t use it as a cesspool.”
She said that she especially wants kids to realize that there are teachers in and out of the classroom.
“There are teachers all around us and they don’t always just look like the teacher in your classroom,” she said. “They might be a shaman. They might be the janitor. They might be a spider. They might be an anaconda. They might be your dog. They’re all around us and our job is to recognize our teachers.”
Montgomery added that she wants youth to realize the gravity of the situations faced by our planet today.
“I want them not to buy the lie that the world is about accumulating a bunch of stuff like money and cars and clothes,” she said. “That is a lie and every wise man and wise woman who has ever lived has said that. And yet, people fall victim to this and then we wonder why we are so unhappy. We wonder why our ocean has more plastic in it than fish — or will by 2050. We wonder why we have plastic in our brains, in our breast milk, in our blood. We’re ruining our great green earth, which is there to support us and full of God’s gifts for all of us, and I think kids know that. If they don’t just get sucked off into this crazy lie, they are going to save the world.”
She added that she believes Ogden School District’s young essayists will be among those who can save the world.
“When I read the essays by these kids in fifth and sixth grade, I could see how these animals ignited their imagination,” she said. “I felt tremendous hope.”
Taking Flight. Brave Baby Hummingbird has been nominated for the 2026 Grand Canyon Reader Award nonfiction book. The Grand Canyon Reader Award is a reader award program for students in Arizona. Students vote annually on their favorite book in the following categories: Picture, Non-Fiction, Intermediate, and Tween.
Turtles in the Classroom
Turtles for Teachers. The Educator’s Guide is here with turtle talk, turtle facts, and printable coloring sheets. Download the PDF.
And turtles tour: Says Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH: “Sy Montgomery and Matt Patterson are a book-making match made in heaven; their sheer enthusiasm for animals oozes out of them, on the page and in-person! We had a wonderful time hosting them for their new picture book, The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle, and they signed books (their new one, and their previous titles as well) before they left!”
From Publisher’s Weekly: A Tortoise Meet and Greet. Fact & Fiction bookstore in Missoula, Mont., gave collaborators Sy Montgomery (r.) and Matt Patterson (c.) a warm welcome on September 10 for the launch of their new picture book, The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle (Clarion). The picture book follows the life of a lucky turtle who must rely on his friends when he faces his first bout of trouble. Nonprofit Animal Wonders, which offers educational outreach programs, brought red-footed tortoises Bubbles, Tubby, and Yuka to meet readers at the event.
Fire Chief Admires His New Book
Hail to the Chief
Hail to the Chief – The Fire Chief. Booklist loves The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle: “The incredible story of Fire Chief is captivating on its own, and the illustrations only add to that appeal. Using what’s described as “a funny grip on the paintbrush,” the illustrator creates life-like images that heighten the drama while giving Fire Chief just enough of a smile to give him personality. Readers will find themselves rooting for him from the start. Young readers will be fascinated by the real-life resilience of this turtle and inspired by the people who helped him survive.”
The Washington Post loves Fire Chief.
Librarians pick the best new books for kids this fall:
The award-winning duo behind The Book of Turtles returns with a true fairy tale about the life of a snapping turtle named Fire Chief. Through Patterson’s realistic acrylic illustrations, readers see the animal mature from the size of an acorn to the size of a lawn mower before an encounter with a vehicle nearly ends his life. Turtle Rescue League conservationists nurse him back to health, and Fire Chief lives happily ever after in a freshly dug pond in the illustrator’s backyard. Montgomery addresses readers directly, inviting them into this remarkable story; an appendix offers resources about turtle stewardship.
Otis loves Fire Chief.
Otis the box turtle at Garden State Tortoise has given the first celebrity endorsement of Sy & Matt’s new book, The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle. Otis is known to his 542,100 followers on TikTok (with over 15.6 million likes), his 510,000 followers on Instagram, and heaps more on Facebook. Otis is one busy boxie.
Octo! Octo! The Secrets of the Octopus is #4 in the nature category on the Circana Bookscan list, which is the standard industry source for book sales. And The Soul of an Octopus is #5.
The Arab News is giving turtles a little love: “Sy Montgomery’s Of Time and Turtles tells of her curiosity to the wonder and wisdom of our long-lived cohabitants, turtles‚ and through their stories of hope and rescue. Elegantly blending science, memoir, philosophy, and drawing on cultures from across the globe, this compassionate portrait of injured turtles and their determined rescuers invites us all to slow down and slip into turtle time.”
Octos to the Rescue
“Tired of doomscrolling and dopamine hits that fade fast?” asks the website Times Now. Well, they say, you need some Octo-therapy. You need to read The Soul of an Octopus, and nine other books.
Times Now says: “These 10 non-fiction books will do what your screen can’t: hold your attention, stretch your thinking, and actually satisfy your curiosity. No overhyped titles here, just masterful storytelling, quirky insights, and voices that make you forget your notifications exist. Whether you’re into history, psychology, or poetic science, this is the anti-screen binge your brain has been waiting for.” See the other books here.
Here Comes Fire Chief
Here comes Fire Chief. His life-story will be published this September. Kirkus Reviews gets in the first word:
The Sibert Honor–winning creators of The Book of Turtles (2023) recount the true story of a snapping turtle whom they both had a hand in rescuing.
The chronological account of Fire Chief’s life begins with a dramatic spread—his mother lays her eggs near a tree with giant roots that both shelter and appear poised to walk away. Child-friendly descriptions make clear the vulnerabilities of the newborn turtle, who was “almost as small as a quarter—so small that even a fish could swallow him.” Montgomery gently folds in the notion of his being “lucky” for having survived such challenges as predators and a road he must cross to reach his winter pond. As the town changes, Fire Chief’s road becomes a highway, leading to his pivotal “unlucky” collision with a car. The Turtle Rescue League tends to his wounds, builds him a wheelchair for indoor exercise, and gives him time to grow strong. Montgomery asks a crucial question: “Would he be fast enough to beat whizzing cars? Is any turtle?” The mostly white-presenting rescuers and local wildlife lovers come up with an ingenious solution; the backmatter reveals Montgomery and Patterson’s own involvement in the story—a poignant surprise. Patterson’s lifelike illustrations pour love on the book’s star: Fire Chief’s penetrating orange-brown eyes and bemused smile charm, while the folds of skin on his legs and chin look like landscape portraits in and of themselves.
Arms out octo lovers. Barnes and Noble has published its own paperback edition of the Secrets of the Octopus. The bookstore says: “This paperback edition is available only at Barnes & Noble! The jacket has a unique exclusive edition cover, including foil details.”
In the annals of true animal rescue tales, this one delights and uplifts. (further information about Fire Chief and snapping turtles, photographs, resources) (Informational picture book. 4-8)
Animal Memoirs are Going Wild. Sy was interviewed by Alexandra Alter for her delightful tour of books about hares, foxes, owls, snails and other animals in The New York Times Book Review. From the story:
“It’s a very old yearning that our kind has,” said the naturalist Sy Montgomery, who has written dozens of books about animals, including How to Be a Good Creature, which chronicles her relationships with 13 animals, among them an octopus named Octavia.
As children, most of us feel an instinctive connection with other creatures. And some of the oldest forms of human art and literature — cave paintings, myths, fables — center on animals.
“It has helped us survive,” Montgomery said of this connection. “Until 10 minutes ago we were all hunter gatherers, and if you didn’t pay attention to the natural world a smilodon came and ate you.”….
Another critique of some animal memoirs is that authors stray into anthropomorphism, assigning human traits to their nonhuman subjects. But writers who have spent time with members of other species say it’s foolish to assume that we’re so very different.
“For the longest time, it was in vogue to say, oh that’s anthropomorphism, and that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Montgomery said. “It implies that emotions, individuality, personality are all human characteristics.”
What I Didn’t Know About the Egg Industry Horrified Me
The jump in egg prices has been news for months, but on the opinion page of The New York Times Sy reveals a much more important story – a tragedy with a solution.
She had no idea that while her free-range hens “enjoyed shelter and sunshine, fresh bugs and freedom, their newborn brothers faced a gruesome fate shared by 6.5 billion male chicks around the world each year. These male birds can’t lay eggs but also aren’t raised for meat. Because they come from egg-laying breeds, they don’t grow big or fast enough to be used for food. So they are ground up alive or gassed to death.
The good news is that a new technology can help end it. Called in ovo sexing, it determines the sex of the chick embryo long before it hatches, allowing the producers to get rid of the male eggs and hatch only the females. Eggs from in ovo sexed hens have been available in some European countries since 2018 and now make up about 20 percent of Europe’s market… It’s a breakthrough that could be one of the greatest gains in animal welfare of the century. But we consumers have to make it happen.
Read the rest here in the April 19 NYT.
Innovate Animal Ag reviewed the response to Sy’s NYT op-ed:
Of Time and Turtles arrives in Germany. Here it is the second book in the Diogenes spring catalog
A Mighty Girl picks some mighty fine books about “Women Saving The Planet: 25 Kids’ Books About Female Environmentalists.” Three of Sy’s books make the list: The Tapir Scientist, The Hyena Scientist and The Octopus Scientist. See the list here.
Sy and Matt thank the Lake Sunapee Protection Association for bringing them to a great school and a great town for two talks. They loved meeting the kids, the adults, and the fabulous board members and volunteers at the lake association and the Abbott Library.
Everything is coming up C
The True and Lucky Life of Firechief
Firechief is ready for his close-up. His story will be told in a new book by Sy and Matt Patterson: The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle. The pub date is this September. Watch the lovable chief here.
Sy talked to New York Times reporter Alexandra Alter about the boom in “animal memoirs” – books in which animals star:
“It’s a very old yearning that our kind has,” said the naturalist Sy Montgomery, who has written dozens of books about animals, including “How to Be a Good Creature,” which chronicles her relationships with 13 animals, among them an octopus named Octavia.
As children, most of us feel an instinctive connection with other creatures. And some of the oldest forms of human art and literature — cave paintings, myths, fables — center on animals.
“It has helped us survive,” Montgomery said of this connection. “Until 10 minutes ago we were all hunter gatherers, and if you didn’t pay attention to the natural world a smilodon came and ate you.”
Read more in the story: A Hare, a Fox, an Owl, a Snail: Animal Memoirs Are Going Wild.
Sy enjoyed meeting the students of the Princeton Day School.
Ciao Italia! If you can read Italian, La Repubblica, an Italian general interest newspaper with a circulation of 151,000, has written about Sy and Tartagua. “This book is an antidote to our seemingly inescapable frenetic world. It blends with elegance science and philosophy. It draws on all the cultures of the world and invites us to slip into the slow time of turtles.” Leggi di più qui: Sy Montgomery: “Così le tartarughe ci insegnano a prenderci cura del mondo”
North Country Radio in New York, reviewed Of Time and Turtles, delighting in meeting the Turtle Rescue League, the Turtle Ladies, and everyone working save these beautiful, endangered creatures. Listen to the short review.
Soul of an Octopus is in great company, LiveMint choses “Six Must-Read Books on Animals and Nature.” See the list.
Sy enjoyed talking with her friend Crystal Sands of Farmer-ish. Listen to the interview and read the full issue of her publication celebrating chickens.
