Book Review: Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Turtle in Paradise
Jennifer L. Holm
Random House Books for Young Readers, May 2010
ISBN 0375836888
Hardcover

Times are tough in Depression-Era America. Eleven-year-old Turtle’s Mom keeps losing housekeeper jobs and getting her heart broken by no-good men. When her Mom gets a job with an old lady who doesn’t like children, she has no other choice but to send her daughter Turtle home to Key West to live with her sister, Minerva. Turtle really isn’t sure how her Mom is going to survive since she’s the sensible one of the two of them, but hard times call for desperate measures.

Turtle arrives with her cat, Smokey, only to discover she’s going to be living in a house with boys, a dog, and nobody wears shoes on the island. At least, she’s not the only one to have a nickname, there’s Beans, Too Bad, Slow Poke and others.

She rides along with the Diaper Gang, a bunch of boys who babysit for candy, and learns the secret family formula for diaper rash.

While in the Conch Republic, she learns about alligator pears (avocadoes), rum running, sponge fishing and most importantly, that she still has a Grandma.  Prior to this, her Mom had told Turtle that her Grandma was dead. Oddly, the hard-shelled Turtle is one of the few people that Nana Philly actually likes. She also meets Key West’s most famous denizen and advises him he should be writing for the funny papers.

Jennifer L. Holm is a descendent of one of those first dwellers on Key West.  Turtle in Paradise is based upon old family stories that have been passed on through the generations.  The tale’s full of good-humored fun and a few hard lessons.  It’s not just a book that young adult readers will enjoy, though.  Anyone who wants to take a quick trip to the Conch Republic is going to love this one.

Reviewed by Rebecca Kyle, July 2010.

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July 25, 2010  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Full Reviews

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