Fast Freddie, The Legend in a Shell, was written and illustrated by Michael Hale. Fast Freddie is the story of Federico, a desert tortoise who decides that he does not want to live a slow and boring existence. Longing to explore his home in the Sonoran Desert, he does what no other tortoise has ever dared to do… He stands up and runs away. Able to run at incredible speeds, Fast Freddie, as he becomes known, encounters and befriends many of the residents of the desert and has wonderful adventures along the way. Once he has seen and done everything he wanted to do, he races toward the setting sun with buckets of paint that enable him to paint the vivid colors of the Arizona Sunset across the sky.”
Here’s a fun art project to do with kids after reading this story!
Sunset Art
Supplies: squares of colored tissue paper, glue, unsharpened pencil or dry paintbrush, piece of construction paper or foam board
Instructions: Pour some glue on a paper plate. Using the pencil or paintbrush, twist the tissue squares around the end and dip into the glue one at a time. Place the squares on the construction paper or foam board so that the tissue sticks up like a flower. Create rows of different colors to look like the sky or a sunset!
This project is easy, good practice for fine motor skills, and yields a beautiful piece of artwork!
*Permission for the reading of this book in its entirety was granted by Michael Hale.
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