World Turtle Day - and the storybehind Hollityne's Quest
Saturday, 23 May is World Turtle Day, a day created in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue to raise awareness of turtles and tortoises and the dangers they face.
This awareness is badly needed. Conservationists estimate that habitat loss, pollution, the illegal pet trade, and climate change threaten or have already caused the extinction of around 61% of turtle species.
However, there has also been some encouraging news. In 2025, the IUCN Red List moved green turtles from Endangered to Least Concern, demonstrating that long-term conservation work can make a real difference.
I wrote about this in my blog post of 5 November 2025. But that good news does not mean the work is over. Other turtle species remain under threat, and even green turtles still face dangers from pollution, fishing, habitat loss, and climate change.
Turtles have been with us for an astonishingly long time. They survived long before many of the creatures we usually think of as ancient. Across cultures, they have often been seen as symbols of wisdom, patience, endurance, and the earth itself.
Perhaps that is why they feel so important. They seem to carry something ancient and steady with them. Yet now, in a world we have changed so dramatically, they need us to carry some of the weight for them.
How Hollityne’s Quest began
After writing my first book, So Here We Are, which was dedicated to my partner, Andrea, something unexpected happened. Andrea’s niece asked me if I would write a book about turtles.
Not just any book, but one that would tell the story of their predicament in our oceans and the actual dangers they face every day.
I couldn’t refuse.
That request became Hollityne’s Quest — a story about a turtle named Tutti, a young girl called Hollityne, and the bond they form when their lives meet on a beach.
This book is dedicated to the girl who asked for it.
Tutti’s journey
Hollityne’s Quest begins with Tutti, a young sea turtle emerging from his shell and beginning his journey across the vast, ancient ocean.
It is a journey full of wonder, but the ocean Tutti swims through is not the clear water it once was.
The story is told from two perspectives: Tutti’s and Hollityne’s. Readers see the ocean through the eyes of the creature who calls it home, and the beach through the eyes of a girl who refuses to look away from what she finds there one morning.
Hollityne’s quest
Hollityne is not simply rescuing a turtle. Her quest becomes something bigger.
She wants to make the environment safer not only for turtles but for all sea creatures. The story is a call to notice, to care, and to act — even in small ways. Small actions can become part of something much larger.
Why it matters
Readers of all ages also enjoyed Hollityne’s Quest, though it is primarily written for young readers.
Perhaps that is because the story carries a simple but important message: one person, even a young girl on a beach, can make a difference.
The animals with whom we share this planet deserve our care. Much of the difficult environment they now face has been created by human action. That means we also have the ability, and the responsibility, to change things for the better.
World Turtle Day reminds us that the polluted ocean Tutti swims through is real. But it also reminds us that people like Hollityne are real too — people who notice, care, and choose to do something.
Hollityne’s Quest is available through my website and other book retailers for anyone who would like to read Tutti and Hollityne’s story.
This World Turtle Day, consider giving a young reader in your life a story that might make them look at the ocean — and their place in it — a little differently.
“Turtles survived the dinosaurs. It would be a tragedy if they couldn’t survive us”— Susan Tellem, Co-founder, American Tortoise Rescue.