POPPY THE PURPLE TURTLE

Jennie Cole
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Published by:
Christopher Cole at Smashwords
Copyright (c) 2011 by Jennie Cole
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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any
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of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and
trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without
permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by
the trademark owners.
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About The Author

Jennie Cole was a remarkable woman. She lived from 1948-2009 and almost made it to
her 61st birthday. She had a love of learning, laughter and life and lived for her children
and grandchildren. It was her hope that she would see this book published one day so
that children everywhere could enjoy it. She will be missed by all who knew her. But,
with the distribution of this book, her memory will live on. Please feel free to download
and share this book with everyone you know and read it to your children or
grandchildren.
This book is dedicated to Jennie’s grandchildren, Taiyou, Cassandra, Mizuki, Daria,
Tyler and Dmitri.
This book is freely available for download in different languages at.....
http://www.btwimho.com/showthread.php?4679-Poppy-The-Purple-Turtle
http://www.toronto-forums.com/showthread.php?t=3823

I lay very quietly. I was safe and warm but all of a sudden I heard a loud CRACK
and felt a bit of cold air. You know how you feel if a little bit of you becomes
uncovered? Anyway, all of a sudden I was out in the open air, and I was
completely uncovered.
Besides the shock of being born, I looked at myself as well as I could, and I WAS
PURPLE!!! I am a turtle. Whoever heard tell of a purple turtle?
My brothers and sisters who were turtle coloured said "You're a purple turtle, look
and see - You're a purple turtle, tee hee hee!”. I sure wish I could do that moment
over again.
The next thing I knew, I was facing this large turtle coloured turtle that said she
was my mother. Even my Mother is the right colour. The only one who is purple
is me. Imagine, six brothers and sisters, and I am the only purple one of the
bunch.
My mother said “Hi Poppy, I am your mother. I decided to call you Poppy because
that is my favourite name, and you are purple and that is my favourite colour. I
think the most beautiful turtle in the world should have the most beautiful name in
the world.”.
You can imagine my surprise. My mother thought I was beautiful. In fact, she
thought I was the most beautiful turtle in the entire world. I couldn't understand it
myself. "I'm not the most beautiful turtle at all. I am the ugliest one. Just look at
my brothers and sisters. They are all turtle coloured. You should give the name
Poppy to one of them. They are prettier than I am.".
My mom got very quiet and tears rolled down her cheek. She told me "Since I
have been making turtles, I have been trying so hard to make a purple one
because purple is so beautiful, and now I've done it and you are unhappy. I would
undo it if I could because, you see, I had no idea you would be so upset, but since
I can't undo it, and you must live with it, I wish you would try to like it.”. I think I
have to help that along.
Whenever anyone says anything bad about your colour, answer them with this "I
am a beautiful purple, look and see. I'm a beautiful purple, only me.". That will
start people thinking that maybe purple is a beautiful colour, and maybe they are
missing something because they can't be purple.
And always remember two things. To me, you are the most beautiful turtle, and
you will find many people or animals in your life that are unhappy with something.
They may be unhappy with their colour, or size, or their eyes or something. Try to
make it your job to help them feel better about themselves, because everyone,
absolutely everyone is beautiful in some way. You just need to help them find it.
So Poppy went off saying -"I'm a beautiful purple, just look and see - I'm a
beautiful purple, only me.".
Poppy promised herself right then and there that she would make it her business
to say something positive to anyone whom she met that wasn't happy with
themselves. The way she had it figured, if her mother could make her feel better
about being purple just by talking to her and telling her how beautiful she was,
then it made sense that she could make other people feel better about themselves
the same way.
Now that is the story of Poppy the purple turtle, and how she not only found out
she was purple, but how she planned to make it a positive part of her life. If you
look at yourself, and discover that you have some things about yourself that you
cannot change, and if these are things that you don't like, try to remember Poppy,
and tell yourself that at least you aren't purple.
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Written By Jennie Cole
Illustrations By Nelli Barabanova