This book is dedicated to my 7 year old nephew, who loves it when I read to him—especially when the stories I read are written or made up by me.

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/aiyuxv2a7w6a

Deep within a forest in Texas, there lived a turtle named Pronto. His mother and father, Slowpoke and Slowmo, named him Pronto because as soon as he was born he started walking very fast. He was faster than they had ever been.

Pronto had many forest friends. He was surrounded by kindness and happiness.

They all grew up together and were the best of friends. For fun, they liked to race every day. Even though Pronto was a turtle and faster than most of them, they loved each other very much. No matter who won, they were all happy.

Day after day, Pronto was walking faster and faster, which means he was running faster and faster. From finishing the races in 3rd place a few days, he went to finishing in 2nd a few days after. One day, he even passed up his fastest bird friend and finished in 1st place. Everyone was surprised. They could not believe that Pronto, a turtle, could beat their fastest friend. They clapped and cheered for him. He was very happy.

The next day, Pronto’s friends decided to make banners to cheer for him during the race. As they waved their banners, they also shouted, “Run, Turtle, Run! Run, Pronto, Run! Run, Turtle, Run!” It only took Pronto ten seconds to make it to the finish line. Everyone else was far from finishing, so they just stopped and cheered with the crowd.

This time, Pronto was different. He was showing off instead of being merry and cheering with everyone. He said, “Who won again? Me, of course! See you guys tomorrow! I will win again for sure!”

I am better than everyone. No one can beat me!

His friends were never like that to each other. They did not know what to do. After some thought, they decided that maybe Pronto was just joking. They told his parents that they wanted to throw a surprise party for Pronto because his birthday was the next day. His parents agreed and helped decorate a nice and peaceful spot in the forest, near a lake.

While his friends and parents were preparing for the surprise party, Pronto practiced running in his room. He wanted to be able to finish a race in less than five seconds. He ran and ran until he got tired and fell asleep.

It was morning again, and Pronto did not remember that it was his birthday. He just wanted to win the race, so he got up and ready to go. He told his parents, “I will be back once the race is over! That means I should be back in less than a minute! I will show my friends that I will always be faster than them!”Pronto made it to the area in the forest where he and his friends always raced, but no one was there. It was empty and he did not understand why. He was upset.

Pronto ran back home and saw that his mother was the only one there. His father had already left to the surprise party. Pronto asked his mother where his father was, and she told him that he was waiting for them at the lake. Pronto had no idea what was going on, but he followed his mother. As they were approaching the party area, his father was the only one there. Pronto’s friends were hiding behind trees in order to jump out and surprise him.