num_pages: 400
description: Seventh grade is not going well for Will Levine. Kids at school bully him because of his funny-looking chin. His science teacher finds out about the turtles he spent his summer collecting from the marsh behind school and orders him to release them back into the wild. And for his bar mitzvah community service project he has to go to the hospital to visit RJ an older boy struggling with an incurable disease. Unfortunately Will hates hospitals.At first the boys don't get along but then RJ shares his bucket list with Will. Among the things he wants to do: ride a roller coaster go to a concert and a school dance and swim in the ocean. To Will happiness is hanging out in his room alone preferably with his turtles. But as RJ's disease worsens Will realizes he needs to tackle the bucket list on his new friend's behalf before it's too late. It seems like an impossible mission way outside Will's comfort zone. But as he completes each task with RJ's guidance Will learns that life is too short to live in a shell.
language: English
title: Turtle Boy
publisher: Delacorte Press