Turkish is what they call an agglutinative language.
Words buildup using different endings which might represent movement towards, from, in on or at, with etc
Also it is designed to sound and flow smoothly, notice below the use of the vowels....
Fethiye
fethiye'ye. To Fethiye
Fethiyeden. From Fethiye
Fethiyede. In Fethiye
fethiyedeyken when in Fethiye
Seker. Sugar
Sekerli. With sugar
Sekersiz. Without sugar
arkadas. Friend
Arkadaslar . Friends
Arkadasim. My friend
Arkadaslarim. My friends
arkadaslarimla. With my friends
You need to learn the use of the endings before trying to learn from a children's book, in the same way as arkadaslarimla won't be in the dictionary.
Sounds very boring but it's not like any other language you'll have learnt at school and the best way is a Turkish language learning text book, as they gradually introduce all of these things.
Once you grasp these concepts, and the verb endings and word order you'll find it gets easier, as everything is pronounced how it looks, and the grammar rules are almost always the same ( with the exception of a few older Arabic based words and expressions)
Having a language learning cd playing in your car, or in the background while you're cooking, whatever, really helps, and you'll subconsciously pick things up a bit like learning song lyrics.
There's some really good online sites too, eg Turkishclass.com.
Watching films with Turkish subtitles is a good way to reinforce too.
Don't give up, it will suddenly fall into place, but don't expect that to happen quickly. It takes years to learn a language well.
Some people have lived here years and can still only say hello and how are you, and take the stance that they dont need to learn it, it all depends how dedicated you are as to whether you succeed, whether you want to feel part of where youve chosen to live, but of course not everyone has a flair for languages.
Turkish people really appreciate it, I managed a conversation with an elderly Turkish man at the cake counter in Kipa today, the beaming smile and praise I got from him made my day.
I'm not sure where you're based, if in UK it's harder, if you're here then have lessons, and practice practice practice!
Good luck