#why am I thinking about the concept of mailboxes and it's flaws
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p-a-c-k · 6 months ago
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I'm curious as to why there's a very easily accessible box on a stcik where people put important pieces of paper right in front of houses.
And what the thought process when it was invented.
And why they thought making it illegal to open said easily accessible box would stop people from taking these important pieces of paper.
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kojinnie · 4 years ago
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Something About Pain | Reiner Braun
Pairing: Reiner Braun x Reader (she/her pronoun)
Summary: You ran away from home and your boyfriend Reiner Braun is desperate to bring you home. When the two of you meet, you share a conversation about how pain inflicts the two of you differently.
Tags & Warning: Angst, (eventual) fluff, (mild) hurt/comfort, slow burn, major miscommunication problem, past trauma, abandonment issue, mention of anxiety, Reiner is a grumpy, hurt individual yet delicate inside | SFW
Word Count: 4.5K
A/N: Based on the request by @okubean for Twisted Match-Up! I hope you like it, boo! (More A/N at the end of the fic)
.::My Masterlist::.
Twisted Match-Up (x Reader): Zeke | Hange | Jean 
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There was a vivid look of worry on the face of Reiner Braun as he drove through the empty neighborhood streets. His right hand on the steering wheel, the other one tapping anxiously on the phone, dialing the same number over and over again to no avail.
All of his calls had gone straight to your mailbox, and his text messages were no longer delivered. Reiner came to realize that you've blocked him. "Idiot," he muttered to himself, cursing this whole modern affinity to accommodate people running from their problems easier. Reiner thought the feature was the stupidest thing ever created by humankind, he was pissed, but more annoyed. He realized how tired he was, and if he could, he'd rather be in bed right now. Not roaming your friend's neighborhood at ungodly hour.
"Where... the fuck... are you..." he was pissed, evident from the grunt as he tried one final desperate attempt to call you. It went straight to your mailbox. Your cheery voice didn't make him feel any better, if any, Reiner wished he could tell the mailbox-you to shut the hell up.
Reiner finally hit the brake, sighing annoyed. His black SUV stopped underneath the streetlamp, at a random neighborhood he could only vaguely remember. He had been here before, when he picked you up from your bestfriend's house after one of your "night out" with your friends from college, but he could barely remember which one of these identical suburban houses did she live.
He rested his forehead on the steering wheel, racking his brain trying to remember the house number. Is this even the correct cul-de-sac? There are tens others. Who the fuck came up with the concept of suburban housing? Strips and strips of uniformed houses. And even worse, who the fuck thought that it was such a great idea to live in one? Like some Stepford Wives nightmare. Reiner couldn't believe some people would save up money for all their lives to pay off their mortgage to live in complete conformity, like a communist utopia with capitalist credit system. Were these people right in the head or had their brains fucked over by the boring 9 to 5 jobs they've had for decades?
That's beside the point. Reiner sighed. He ranted a lot when frustrated.
He knew you'd be there, in one of these houses, curled up crying in your bestfriend's bed, perhaps pouring your heart out on how much of a bad boyfriend Reiner was. He knew because you've passed the micro-aggression millionth times, muttering under your breath, saying that you'd be fine if Reiner kicks you out because your bestfriend would take you. What kind of fuckery was all that? Why would he ever kick you out? Reiner thought. He was clueless. Why were you so adamant that he would leave you eventually? Reiner could feel his annoyance grew while reminiscing your antics. He began to think, maybe he had never understood you to begin with.
But Reiner was wrong, because he was right about a lot of things about you. You were exactly in your bestfriend's house, curled up in her bed, ranting how hard it was being with Reiner. Although the tears had dried since hours ago. You were in your PJs and drinking the hot coco your friend had made you, comfortable in the bliss of obliviousness upon the fact that your boyfriend of one year was now driving aimlessly trying to locate your position. You were adamant that he was going to leave you anyway, you thought he wouldn't exert an ounce of energy trying to plea you home.
It was 4 AM in the morning and you hadn't come home. The trace of you had gone completely from Reiner's apartment since early morning. Reiner knew that this was bound to happen, had he done anything differently - would you stay? He thought of you and the state that the two of you had been tangled in. All the unresolved tension, or the persistent insinuations coming from you that you always shrugged off in the end, saying "Nothing." as if it did not matter, each time Reiner shot them with, "What did you say?"
You sipped your hot coco and let a troubled whimper as you told your bestfriend what was happening. It's the culmination of small things, your feeling of inadequacy and the anxiety of waking up every morning, being convinced that each day would be the day that Reiner finally leaves you. Every day you’d be mentally preparing yourself for the ultimate fate until Reiner returns home with his big, warm hug until your anxiety caves in. And that the anxiety would appear again in the next morning.
The idea of him leaving became incessant and you could never bug it off. You wondered why, maybe because you believed that you were inherently flawed. Maybe it's the way Reiner made that small "Tsk," when he came home to see the garbage piled up, "Babe, didn't I tell you to put out the garbage?"; or the deep, annoyed and condescending sighs he made when he missed his favorite show because you forgot to pay the cable bills while he was out at the office.
Maybe it's the way you couldn't match his sharp memory and reliability with you constantly forgetting things and your seeming inattentiveness despite the abundant reminders, notes and alarms you've made to keep yourself alerted. At times, your mind just wandered, and you needed him to rope you back in, but he never got the gist.
So, you were adamant that you had grown to be nothing but inconvenience for him, hence when he spent the night over at his office due to what he called "Shit load of work" over the phone, you were certain he wouldn't come back at all. You knew that the pain of being abandoned would haunt you to myriad of miseries, so you'd rather leave first. You knew it would be the end you both needed, because you knew Reiner did not care about you enough to tolerate your shit any longer. He was always quiet, there was hardly ever any expression on his face, God knows what he was thinking underneath. Each of your "Reiner, I'm sorry." would only be met by a singular hum or a quick, "It's okay." that left you wondering, did he ever mean it at all?
So that morning you left. While he was still at the office, because you knew there was no feelings strong enough for Reiner to keep him from leaving you eventually. You left first.
Your bestfriend nodded in reassurance, "You gotta do what you gotta do." she said pulling you into a warmly hug, but your attention was suddenly caught by the pile of plastics and packages from your take-outs at the corner of your friend's room. It just bothered your mind, and you got up to take it out. A small token of atonement to what you wish you had done to Reiner.
Your bestfriend immediately scrambled and took the garbage away from you. Insisting for you to stay in bed and let her take care of it. You nodded and retreated to the pillow fortress. You felt bad for her because the temperature was dropping, and there was no necessity to take the garbage out right now, but your impulse was often hard to subside, and your friend had grown to acknowledge and take sympathy over that. Unlike Reiner, you thought.
Maybe it's because Reiner never shown anyone openly about what he felt, but what you did not know, sometimes he wish he had. Sometimes he wished he'd opened up about how hard it is for him to breathe when unfortunate things occur that he did not have the answer to. Sometime he wished he could share his fear, worry, anger and disappointment, but he was always thought that a man got to suck it up, and perseverance was the only way he knew how to survive.
Sometimes he wished he had told somebody that the constant worrying about his loved ones consumed him too, to the point it became hard for him to let his guard down even when things are okay. He was always on alert, and sometimes it got exhausting too for him. He wished he had told all that, so in times like these he did not have to assume the heartbreak alone while trying to find the solution to it. Sometimes he wished people knew that he cared too, he loved too, he knew too when someone he loved was struggling, but he never learned how to show it. Reiner knew your mind often raced hundreds of miles per hour, Reiner knew your state of agitation, but he never had anyone to teach him how affection should look like, other than be of service, which he tried his best at being. It was no wonder that Reiner was left clueless when you chose to leave without warning.
He was pissed because he knew how daft he was, yet none of it was ever intentional. He cursed himself for not knowing what went wrong, for not being more observant, for not being open with his feelings, for not telling you how much he had grown to love you and how much his apartment immediately grew cold at your absence. But mostly, at this moment, he cursed himself because he wasn't attentive enough to know you friend's house number.
The air was crisp when your bestfriend stepped out of her porch. She made quick steps to the garbage can when she saw bright headlights coming in from the end of the street. She grunted, wondering what was her neighbor doing, cruising around with dramatically low speed. It seemed odd.
She put her fingers above her eyes, trying to recognize the plate number or the driver, but the black SUV lights were dispersing her sight.
She closed the garbage can and tried to immediately return inside but the car cruised closer and pulled over in front of her. The window rolled open.
"Hey," There was an immediate look of surprise from the person that Reiner barely recognized. But he was sure enough that it was her, judging from her body language; all tensed and alerted, "This is Reiner."
For a moment, there was an awkward silence between Reiner and your bestfriend. She was considering carefully on what to say next.
"Uhm yeah, I know." Your bestfriend finally spoke, her voice creaked, caught by surprise. "What do you want?"
Reiner spoke your name, "I want to meet my girlfriend." Reiner could hear the desperation in his own voice, but your friend jeered in response.
"My girlfriend." she passingly mocked the way Reiner spoke, she came to dislike what she thought was possessiveness in Reiner's nature of speaking, "She's not available. I suggest you to scram. Before my neighbors complain."
Reiner furrowed his brows in dismay, couldn't seem to understand the hostility presented by your friend, "I need to talk to her."
She stood unyielding. Reiner opened the door and climbed off of the car, sighing as he walked closer, propelling your friend to keep her distance away even further. "Please, let me talk to her."
"Not a chance." She turned around and scurried back into the house. Reiner was quick to yell, to her expected dismissal. Without thinking further, Reiner got back to behind the wheel and moved his car forward on to the curb, proceeding to close off the exit way for her small city car in the driveway.
Reiner jumped off the car as your besfriend realized what he had done, "I'm not moving the car until she comes down."
She let out a restraint shrieked, "What the fuck?! I got a dentist appointment tomorrow morning!"
"Then please, tell her to come down and talk to me," Reiner said, sounding almost apologetic. He threw a glance at a lonely swing set in the small park across the street, "there."
The occurrence happening before your eyes was unexpected to say the least. You closed the small slit from your bestfriend's window fold, trying to manage your heartbeat that had become almost deafening. At the same time your bestfriend appeared from the door, face red with flustered, "I think he really wants to see you."
Thousands of thoughts made a commotion in your head. It did not make any sense. You made it easier for Reiner by walking away with clean slate, you were sure this was what he had hoped secretly.
Your friend shuffled inside and shot you a deep stare, she sighed heavily and told you that whether you liked it or not, you had to face him. Reiner looked genuinely worried, she said, twisting your guts even further.
You sat in her bed for a moment, trying to relive every waking moment with Reiner. Sure there were moments when your own thoughts chased you into a deep corner and you wished Reiner had seen it. Sometimes you wished he’d hold you tight, kiss you with reassurance and told you how meaningful you were to him. Sure, sometimes being with Reiner could feel lonely, but he had never treated you back nor was he ever intentionally mean to you. What do I want? The question hung heavy in your mind.
I want him to say that he wants me, the voice within the nook of your brain said, I want him to say that he loves me.
You nodded, finally ceasing from running away further.
             Reiner never thought that at his 20-something he would sit miserably on a random swing-set at a random neighborhood just an hour before the dusk cracked. Reiner was a big man, but even with his figure and the aid of his tailored suit and shirt, wrinkled after gruesome hours at work trying to keep his company afloat on the thin ice of his personal relationship with you – Reiner was tired, and miserable, and desperate. Even more, he was cold as the temperature continued to drop down.
He hung his head low, trying to fight the shivers. It was quiet, too quiet, only the faint sound of the wind and the creaking sound of the swing-set holding off to its dear life under Reiner’s massive weight. The man sighed, never he thought that the sight of you coming out of someone’s house in the dead of a  night would be a spectacle he looked forward to the most.
He closed his eyes, shutting himself off from any sound and thought. Thinking that maybe in the bleakness of his sense, the time would pass faster and your heart would soften.
In the nothingness Reiner could feel a sudden warmth crept from the tips of his fingers, he opened his eyes to see you standing before his eyes, towering him who was sitting like a pathetic boy on the swing. You were wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, hiding your PJs underneath. In your hands were two cups of scalding tea, you shoved one into his hand, “You came.” You stated.
Reiner let out a deep sigh of relief as he saw you safe and sound. He felt warmth travelled across his body, he did not know whether it was the tea in his hand or simply the sight of you that made him felt so. His eyes latched on to you as you sat on the swing next to him, “Hey. What are you doing?” Reiner asked.
“Running away.”
“Why?”
Reiner looked at you intently, and the guilt started to consume you. You gazed afar, softly shook your head, “Dunno.”
“I see.”
Yet another silence ensued.
“How’s work?”
Reiner sighed again; the heavy breath seemed to be the only way the two of you communicated. Just two troubled minds pouring their burden at each other, “Bertholdt abruptly resigned—fuck, it’s been a nightmare, but—” Reiner pressured his thumb over his brows, trying to ease his sharp migraine that suddenly came, “—that doesn’t matter now. Will you come home?”
He looked at you again, you were still gazing to god-knows-what, everything other than his eyes. Reiner grew antsy on his seat, the swing creaked again. Please look at me. Please look at me. The words resonated incessantly in Reiner’s head but nothing came out of his mouth. Just a stoic, to-the-point question.
Don’t you wanna know the problem, Reiner? Is that all? I said I don’t know and you didn’t even try to dig in deeper? You came all the way here and you just straight up asking me to go home with you? Your mind was nowhere better. It’s in uproar but there was only silence coming out of your mouth. But he came, he didn’t leave. Contradiction danced inside your mind like an unwanted guest.
The silence grew heavier. You saw the lights from your bestfriend’s bedroom lit off, she had got to be tired eventually. Suddenly, you felt so alone. Just the two of you in this odd morning.
“It’s hard, right?” Reiner broke the silence, he looked at you again, this time he was desperate for you to look into his eyes. Little did he know, you were refusing to do so because you could feel your fragility forming in your eyes. You swore not to cry.
“What?” Just a depthless answer you uttered.
“Growing up.” Reiner muttered. The man sounded almost contemplative in his defeat. He sighed again and shook his head, “I thought I’d be someone better by this time in my life.”
The answer surprised you. You thought he would say something like ‘Relationship is hard’ or some jargons he picked up from one of the movies he watched without you. You felt bad for undermining him just because you were upset with him. Does it really mirror your true perception of him? Maybe you really hadn’t known him that well.
You had no resolve to his statement, so you just nodded, allowing him to pour out his thoughts.
“I thought I’d be better with my job, with myself, and most importantly,” he shifted to lurch towards you on his seat, the wire strings of the swing twisted to your direction, “with the people I love. But obviously, I still… suck.”
“And here I am. 4 AM. A fucking adult on a fucking neighborhood swing-set.”
You could feel the air suctioned out of your lungs, as you felt guilt loomed bigger inside you. He came and he felt bad – what more could I ask for? But then you remembered the nights of loneliness despite having Reiner sleeping next to you. You had a bad day, but you were too prideful to come clean. You wanted him to be intuitive, but he never did. Being with Reiner, you had mastered the art of crying in silence while sharing the bed with him. It’s exhausting. Yeah, Rei, maybe you’re bad at this.
Despite that, you stayed silent.
“Will you hate me if I say I don’t know what’s wrong?” Reiner knew how daft he sounded, “God. I’m pushing my luck coming clean at you.”
You were at loss for words. You had so many things to say, but too few of a courage.
Reiner called your name. He reached over and tried to tangle one of your fingers with his. From your periphery sight, you could see him forcing a smile, “I—”
He sighed again. Reiner’s chest was filled with words and all he wanted was to vomit it out, but he never knew how to properly addressed the feelings he had—he couldn’t even describe what he felt. All he knew was one thing: he wanted you home, back in his arms, “I am a stupid man. I really don’t know what’s happening between us. You.. just.. gone. Please, just tell me what’s wrong. I’m not smart enough for all these..”
There was almost a childish plea in Reiner’s words, and you couldn’t help but to threw a faint smile. You chuckled, “What did you say? You’re—what?”
He scoffed at himself, “I am stupid.”
You finally caved in because you realized there was an undeniable genuineness in the way he spoke. And the sentiment was mutual, you felt stupid as well for you had not realized how completely, utterly, truly clueless Reiner was.
Eventually, you looked at him. His hardened face quickly turned wary to finally see how puffy your eyes were from crying earlier, you forced a smile, but it was clear you were pretending, “You make me feel so lonely sometimes.”
The words came out of your mouth like a canonball that had been stuck in your chest for too long. You felt relief, but on the other side, Reiner could feel his heart broke. A pain from a man realizing too late of the damage he had caused.
You thought of everything that had made you feel so. The way Reiner rolled over in bed away from you, drowsy and unaware, when you called him in the dead night as your anxiety kicked in; when his hand let you go as you tried to hold his hands in public; the complete non-existing mention of you in his social media; the take-outs that he mindlessly brought home when you had cooked dinner; his easiness in dropping a problem after he said sorry without checking up with you further.
It was the absent of his intuition that made you felt invisible – but you realized too late that maybe he was truly oblivious, evident as he said, “But how?”
“You really don’t know?”
“Babe,” he further tangled your fingers into his grasp. Your hand and his, they hung in the middle of the two swing seats, “I swear on my mother’s grave.”
“I’ve always thought you wanted to leave me but never got the right moment to it. The affection—I hardly ever got it from you. Not the affirming words, not the reassurance. Hell, maybe I want that public kiss and hugs that you thought was stupid, Rei. Just—”
You could feel the tears forming, choking you mercilessly, “—just to feel loved. To feel wanted. For once.”
You finally let your tears dropped. And Reiner was slapped with realities that both of you were in. He let go of your hand and stared down at the pavement, “I’m sorry. I never knew.”
“You never asked.”
“But I never knew. How am I supposed to know that I should ask when I didn’t know I should ask on the first place? I’ve always thought you wanted to be left alone when all your crazy thoughts come in—but you—”
“—you—"
Reiner groaned, obviously frustrated. He rested the blabber, “Maybe we’re just not good at this.”
Like a train, you could feel the ending coming to hit you. This is it. This is it. You thought to yourself, picturing how Reiner would finally leave you. You secretly wished Reiner wouldn’t give in, you wish he’d put up more fight, so at least you’d know that you carried a weight in his heart. But you knew this was bound to happen, so why were you so upset?
“Maybe.” You wiped your tears dry, “That’s okay, Reiner. I know that’s what I am.”
“What?”
“I’m just an embarkation point, right? Everyone will leave me eventually. That’s why I left, because I know eventually, we’ll be talking about this. So I’d better leave first.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Reiner grew even more frustrated with the way you danced around your words.
“It’s okay if you want to leave me. That’s what all people do to me.”
“You left because you think I was planning to leave you all along?” Reiner asked, sounding painfully offended as he finally got to gather what you were insinuating, “So that is the problem?”
“Yeah, so I better leave first, right? Before I get hurt again? Before you leave me like other people and—”
“Fuck other people!” Reiner raised his voice, which he immediately regretted. He ran his fingers over his hair irritated, turning it into a complete blond mess, “Are you trying to avenge your revenge for other people—those exes you’ve had—on me?”
Tears welled up again in your eyes, as you looked away from him. But he called on your name again, this time there was a deep sternness in his call that you couldn’t help but to face him. Reiner was glad that you finally gained courage to speak the truth, when he had not, “So you want reassurance, yeah? How about the times I told you how beautiful, how smart, how great you are – only for you to tell yourself the opposite immediately.”
Reiner looked directly into your eyes, “I can’t make you something you’re not. What you are is who you think you are.”
“You can never matter – if you don’t think you do.”
An expressionless, soundless tear fell onto your cheek. A heart broke to your dismay. Reiner finally said the truth and there was no way you could delude yourself into thinking that he was wrong, “Then… why don’t you just leave me, Rei? Why don’t you get rid of me a long time ago?”
“Because I’m giving you something that I never received in my entire life, ever. I’m staying for you.” There was a palpable pain in the way Reiner spoke. He landed his finger on to your heart and you could feel it pierced through your skin with heavy realization, “I’m staying. Like no one ever did in my life. Not my ex-girlfriends, not my friends, and certainly not my father. That’s what makes us different. I have more faith in you than you have in me.”
Reiner was a man with heavy heart. He had been through a lot of things in his life, learned how to fend on for himself since very young, and dreamed of the day when he could finally put his hair down with someone he cared for. And what you hadn’t realize, was how essentially similar you were to him. How both of you longed for someone to let go of your inhibitions and fear? Just two broken people finding refuge in each other’s longing for the same thing. And that’s what you failed to see. He understood you, just in a way you didn’t understand.
And that’s the thing about pain, they are inherently personal. No matter how much you have shared yourself to others.
The two of you went dead silent for a moment. In the horizon, the sun rays were starting to emerge, the morning had arrived.  Your tears cascaded painfully slow; Reiner was looking at his feet trying to sip his tea that had gone cold. His hands were trembling with both sadness and anger that were beginning to secede.
Reiner finally called your name, this time it was delicate, “I’m sorry, alright?”
You looked at him with tears in your eyes as you nodded, “Alright.”
“Will you come home, now?”
“Yes,” you muttered, “I think I will.”
The two of you got up and Reiner immediately drew you into his chest, holding you the tightest you had ever been held, reconnecting all the broken pieces scattered inside you. You buried your face into his strong chest as you sobbed once more, while he kissed the top of your head with affection more vivid than thousands of words of affirmations.
“What do we do with these hearts, Rei?” You asked as you felt your chest throbbing with pain and love.
The man loosened his embrace and smiled, “Persevere.”
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A/N:
First of all thank you so much to @okubean for giving me a hellish prompt! This one really made me faced my own abandonment issue and poured it into a writing. I tried to touch about the absent-mindedness as the implication of ADHD but I’m really worried that it doesn’t really do it justice. So hereby my sincere apologies! 😭🙏
Nonetheless, I really hope that you may enjoy this piece and I’m so sorry if it comes off as boring!
I literally drafted this on the metro, and got really carried away with it!
Did I enjoy it? (Yes)
Did this turn out longer than I expected? (Yes)
Am I worried this will bore people? (Yes)
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reaganreads · 4 years ago
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The Box Turtle by Vanessa Roeder - Easy Reader Picture Book
Publication Date: 2020
Rating: 3/5
Justification: This book appeared to be absolutely adorable, and slightly silly, which is why I initially chose it. Although this narrative is about a turtle, it is also a story about being born “different” and how that may impact your life, which is an important narrative for children to hear. Ultimately, I chose this book due to the adorable turtle, and the way in which he overcomes his differences and learns to love himself despite those differences. The happy nature, and appealing illustrations of this picture book made this reading experience very enjoyable for me. 
Evaluation:
Illustrations The illustrations within this book add to the overall narrative due to the additional detail found within the pictures. For example, the moment the other turtles make fun of Terrance and his shell, the illustration depicts Terrance as blushing, which can imply he is embarrassed at this moment. Without this illustration, it may be difficult to visualize exactly how Terrance feels as it is not explained through the text itself. The addition of these small details enhance the narrative and allow readers to better understand the moods and emotions of the story. The illustrations associated with the scene in which Terrance goes searching for a new shell is also interesting, and beneficial to the narrative. Terrance is seen looking for a new shell in many different places such as on a slide, in a tree, on a wagon, and a few other areas. This illustration is interesting as it shows Terrance in all of these places at once, he is seen multiple times within the same illustration, which conveys the way in which he searched for his new shell. Due to the simple nature of this book, we do not get much information about the way in which Terrance feels, which is why these illustrations are so important. In many different scenes it is easy to understand the emotion Terrance is experiencing due to the facial expression he holds, such as the moment he blushes at his mailbox shell not covering enough of his body, or the fear in his eyes when his jack in the box shell springs to life unexpectedly. These illustrations truly enhance the reading experience by enhancing the narrative and giving readers the chance to interpret Terrance’s emotions in more detail.
Tension The tension within this plot is both silly and inspiring - Terrance was born without a shell, and struggles to find a shell that feels like home. The thought of a naked turtle without a shell is very silly, but also very sad! The young readers will most likely be giggling over this naked turtle, while showing excitement and hope over him finding a new shell. The tension of Terrance lacking a shell is very tangible, it is a concept young children can understand and can attempt to solve. If you are reading this book to children, you can ask them what they think would be a good shell for Terrance, which is something they can easily imagine. I feel as if Roeder does an outstanding job at finding tension that is perfect for her target audience. Not only is this tension tangible, but it is also funny while holding a deeper meaning as well. Young children may not understand this narrative can be interpreted as being about self acceptance, but it is teaching them that differences are okay, which is a valuable concept. Overall, I believe the tension of this text was extremely age appropriate, is tangible, and is very inspiring to young readers. 
Theme The two possible themes of this book are fairly obvious as Terrance struggles to accept himself due to the fact he was born without a shell; a very rare occurrence for turtles, and the way in which his friend supports him on this journey. Although the text does not explicitly state this, one theme of the book can be understood that friends always support each other through hardships. The hermit crab who accompanies Terrance on this journey to find a new shell is extremely selfless and overall a great friend, which shows Terrance how valuable friendship can be in such difficult times. The hermit crab ends up giving his hell to Terrance after he has no luck finding a new shell. Terrance decides not to accept his shell, but the hermit crab helps Terrance find his old shell, fix it up, and make it feel like home. Within the scene where Terrance is given the hermit crab’s shell, the narrator states “In that moment, the hermit crab showed what is meant to be a friend,” which is exactly what Terrance needed. The second theme of this book can be interpreted as a path to self acceptance, that you are more than your flaws or differences. When Terrance realizes his friendship is more important than a unique shell, Roeder adds “The little crustacean was so much more than just a shell. And maybe Terrance was too”. This moment shows that Terrance realizes he is worth so much more than his shell, and that his shell does not define him by any means. Although not everyone has a shell, many people can relate to the message that your mistakes, your differences, or even your flaws, do not define you. Overall, I think the themes of this book are beautiful and well executed, causing this book to be more enjoyable overall.
Conclusion: Ultimately this text was executed very well, and was very adorable and silly, which most young children enjoy. The tension of this narrative was very spot on and can be easily understood by children, while the theme is also very inspiring. Roeder’s illustrations do a wonderful job at enhancing the narrative and creating a more detailed reading experience, which is enjoyable for children as well since many young children cannot read or are simply beginners. Overall, I feel as if the qualities of this text were done very well and I am pleased with this text. 
Reference: Roeder, V. (2020). The Box Turtle (Illustrated ed.). Dial Books.
Sources: Young, T., Bryan, G., Jacobs, J., & Tunnell, M. (2019). Children’s Literature, Briefly (7th ed.). Pearson.
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