Surviving adolescence is hard anywhere and five 10-year-old best friends try to survive a summer of bullies, parents with substance abuse issues, broken homes … crime … social workers… thieves … slumlords … and poverty. These five try to navigate all these pitfalls in a most unexpected way. Working in the sheltered garden of whom they always thought was just a mean, strange old lady. A woman of very few words, Miss Dirt Turtle lays a path of “foundation” – starting with the earth around them.

I did 36 black and white illustrations for this book over the course of 7 months. it was quite a challenge to incorporate all 5 main characters in almost all the illustrations. Im really happy with the results.