Lionel was a turtle who lived a simple life in his animal kingdom, he went to school like all of the rabbits, frogs, birds, and all of the other animals. He lived with his mom and dad on a stream and they would eat dinner together every night but one night Lionel asked his Mom and Dad "How come I can't do anything cool like the other animals? The rabbits can run fast, the frogs can jump high and catch food far away, the birds can fly anywhere they want and I'm just slow and have an ugly shell?"

His mom let out a sigh and said "Oh Lionel why are you so worried about what the other animals can do? Worry about what Lionel can do everyone is special in their own way and you will realize that soon enough. That ugly shell you were talking about protects you from danger!" He retorted quickly "If I was fast like the rabbit I could run from the danger and I would not need a shell!" His dad intervened "Lionel do not argue with your mother just finish your dinner so you can go finish your homework we will talk about this more later"

Lionel knew better than to say something once dad got involved so he obeyed and went to finish his homework. Once he was finished he spent all night thinking about what he could do to make himself as fast as the rabbits but he could not come up with anything. He decided it was no use and was determined to think more about it tomorrow as he had to start getting ready for bed for school tomorrow.

The next day as Lionel was on his way to school he was so excited for what he had planned for recess. All of his classes went by very slowly as he was waiting for his teacher Mr.Owler to call for recess. As soon as she called for recess he quickly gathered his lunchbox as fast as he could and chased after his friends. As the friends were showing each other what they have for lunch Lionel pulled out 4 tiny leaves from his lunchbox with a huge grin on his face. He placed a leaf on the bottom of each of his feet and took his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and rubbed it on the bottom of each leaf and started to slide.