Turtle in Paradise

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More About This Book

Overview

A 2011 Newbery Honor Book

Inspired by family stories, two-time Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Holm beautifully blends family lore with America's past in this charming gem of a novel, rich in historical detail, humor, and the unique flavors of Key West.

Life isn't like the movies, and eleven-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple. She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935, and jobs and money and sometimes even dreams are scarce. So when Turtle's mama gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids, Turtle says goodbye without a tear and heads off to Key West, Florida, to stay with relatives she's never met.

Florida's like nothing Turtle has ever seen. It's hot and strange, full of wild green peeping out between houses, ragtag boy cousins, and secret treasure. Before she knows what's happened, Turtle finds herself coming out of the shell she has spent her life building, and as she does, her world opens up in the most unexpected ways.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Turtle, the witty 11-year-old narrator of this standout historical novel, is a straight shooter: “Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I’ve lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten.” When her romantic and unrealistic mother, who’s always falling in and out of love, gets a housekeeping job that won’t allow children, she sends Turtle to her estranged family in Depression-era Key West. Though her mother hails Key West as paradise, Turtle initially think it’s a dump (“Truth is, the place looks like a broken chair that’s been left out in the sun to rot”). Two-time Newbery Honor author Holm again crafts a winning heroine who, despite her hardened exterior, gradually warms to her eccentric family members, including her unruly cousins and waspish grandmother (who Turtle thought was dead). Infused with period pop culture references, a strong sense of place, and the unique traditions and culture of Key West natives (aka “Conchs”), this humorous adventure effectively portrays Turtle as caught between her mother’s Hollywood-inspired dreams and the very real family and geography that offer a different kind of paradise. Ages 8-12. (May)
Children's Literature
It's 1935, and eleven-year-old Turtle's mama has been hired as a housekeeper for a lady who doesn't like children. Turtle's shipped off to Key West, Florida, to stay with her aunt whom she's never met, whereby hangs a tale of a wild, free childhood in a hardscrabble time. Florida too, is a sweet, wild sort of place, to which Holm (Our Only May Amelia, Babymouse, and others) brings her characteristically deft touch and trademark humor. Turtle may know of Shirley Temple but she can't stand her, and her acerbic commentary on the world of the movies threads itself through her story. Her cousins are part of a local band dubbing themselves "The Diaper Gang"—no girls allowed—and "We watch babies. Bad ones." It's a time of chaos and adventure, as rich in humanity as it is in evocative detail. Florida is every bit as exotic a setting as any faraway land, and every stroke of description in the narrative (turtle kraals, sponges, the fried balls of dough called bollos, pirate treasure) is essential to the story. Holm is relentless in pushing her young character to the edge, with apparent triumph quickly followed by heartbreak. Breathe, and there's reconciliation, and picture-perfect hope dawning once more. And wait just a minute! There's Papa Hemingway in a cameo role, before it all sweeps to a lovely tender moment that amply fulfills the promise of the opening. An afterword provides information on family and local lore, and on the history of Key West during the Depression. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami
More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews
School Library Journal
Gr 3–6—Set in 1935, 11-year-old Turtle is sent off to her aunt in the Florida Keys when her mother gets a job in New Jersey as a live-in housekeeper for a woman who doesn't like children. Turtle's mother is a dreamer who pins her hopes on every new man she meets and, as each one disappears, Turtle becomes more of a pragmatist. Ever adaptable, she works to fit in with her wacky boy cousins (reminiscent of The Little Rascals but called The Diaper Gang) and all the colorful characters she finds in the small community of Key West. Along the way she discovers a grandmother she did not know existed and, through her, a pirate's treasure. The book (Random, 2010) was inspired by Jennifer Holmes's great-grandmother's stories. Narrator Becca Battoe perfectly portrays Turtle and distinctly voices the entire cast of characters. Listeners get a perfect sense of Florida's heat, the ennui of the kids, and the laid back community struggling through the Depression. This audiobook brings a whole new dimension to an already splendid novel.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisburg, VA
Kirkus Reviews
Eleven-year-old Turtle falls in with the Diaper Gang-her boy cousins Beans, Kermit and Buddy and their friends Ira and Pork Chop-when she is packed off to stay in her mother's hometown of Key West because her housekeeper mother has a new job with a woman who doesn't like kids. It's 1935, and the enterprising boys offer baby care to exhausted mothers in exchange for candy because no one has any money to spare. Glimpses of Southern decay and charm add to the sense of otherness that Turtle finds in the heat, the occasional scorpion, the windfall fruit and the hint of Bahamian and Cuban roots. Her encounters with the cantankerous invalid grandmother she never knew and with Slow Poke, a sponge fisherman whose gray eyes match her own, hint at the importance of this homecoming. Turtle's discovery of the charms of family is as valuable as the pirate treasure the children weather a hurricane to find. Holm's voice for Turtle is winning and authentic-that of a practical, clear-eyed observer-and her nimble way with dialogue creates laugh-out-loud moments. Sweet, funny and superb. (Historical fiction. 9-13)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780375836909
  • Publisher: Random House Children's Books
  • Publication date: 12/27/2011
  • Pages: 208
  • Sales rank: 18,308
  • Age range: 8 - 12 Years
  • Lexile: 0610L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 7.64 (w) x 5.28 (h) x 0.52 (d)

Meet the Author

JENNIFER L. HOLM is the author of two other Newbery Honor Books, as well as the Babymouse and Squish series which she collaborates on with her brother Matthew Holm.

Read an Excerpt

Turtle in Paradise

By Jennifer L. Holm

Random House Books for Young Readers

Copyright © 2010 Jennifer L. Holm
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780375936883
Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I've lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten. The only difference between grown-ups and kids is that grown-ups go to jail for murder. Kids get away with it.  

I stare out the window as Mr. Edgit's Ford Model A rumbles along the road, kicking up clouds of dust. It's so hot that the backs of my legs feel like melted gum, only stickier. We've been driving for days now; it feels like eternity.   In front of us is a rusty pickup truck with a gang of dirty-looking kids in the back sandwiched between furniture--an iron bed, a rocking chair, battered pots--all tied up with little bits of fraying rope like a spiderweb. A girl my age is holding a baby that's got a pair of ladies' bloomers tied on its head to keep the sun out of its eyes. The boy sitting next to her has a gap between his two front teeth. Not that this stops him from blowing spitballs at us through a straw. We've been stuck behind this truckfor the last few miles, and our windshield is covered with wadded bits of wet newspaper.

A spitball smacks the window and Mr. Edgit hammers the horn with the palm of his hand. The no-good boy just laughs and sticks out his tongue.  

"There oughta be a law. No wonder this country's going to the dogs," Mr. Edgit grumbles.  

Mr. Edgit ("You can call me Lyle") has a lot of opinions. He says folks in the Dust Bowl wouldn't be having so much trouble if they'd just move near some water. He says he doesn't think President Roosevelt will get us out of this Depression and that if you give someone money for not working why would they ever bother to get a job? But mostly Mr. Edgit talks about a new hair serum he's selling that's going to make him rich. It's called Hair Today, and he's a believer. He's used the product himself.  

"Can you see the new hair, Turtle?" he asks, pointing at his shiny bald head.  

I don't see anything. It must grow invisible hair.  

Maybe Archie should start selling hair serum. If his pal Mr. Edgit's anything to go by, most men would rather have hair than be smart. Archie's a traveling salesman. He's sold everything--brushes, gadgets, Bibles, you name it. Right now he's peddling encyclopedias.  

"I could sell a trap to a mouse," Archie likes to say, and it's the truth. Housewives can't resist him. I know Mama couldn't.  

It was last May, one day after my tenth birthday, when I opened the door of Mrs. Grant's house and saw Archie standing there. He had dark brown eyes and thick black hair brushed back with lemon pomade.  

"Well, hello there," Archie said to me, tipping his Panama hat. "Is the lady of the house at home?"  

"Which lady?" I asked. "The ugly one or the pretty one?"  

He laughed. "Why, ain't you a sweet little thing."  

"I'm not sweet," I said. "I slugged Ronald Caruthers when he tried to throw my cat in the well, and I'd do it again."   Archie roared with laughter. "I'll bet you would! What's your name, princess?"  

"Turtle," I said.  

"Turtle, huh?" he mused, stroking his chin. "I can see why. Got a little snap to you, don't ya?"  

"Who's that you're talking to, Turtle?" my mother called, coming to the door.  

Archie smiled at Mama. "You must be the pretty lady."  

Mama put her hand over her heart. Otherwise it would have leaped right out of her chest. She fell so hard for Archie she left a dent in the floor.  

Mama's always falling in love, and the fellas she picks are like dandelions. One day they're there, bright as sunshine--charming Mama, buying me presents--and the next they're gone, scattered to the wind, leaving weeds everywhere and Mama crying.  

But Mama says Archie's different, and I'm starting to think she may be right. He keeps his promises, and he hasn't disappeared yet. Even Smokey likes him, which is saying something, considering she bit the last fella Mama dated. Also, he's got big dreams,which is more than I can say for most of them.  

"Mark my words, princess," Archie told me. "We'll be living on Easy Street someday."  


From the Hardcover edition.

Continues...
Excerpted from Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm Copyright © 2010 by Jennifer L. Holm. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 134 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(86)

4 Star

(22)

3 Star

(11)

2 Star

(3)

1 Star

(12)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 134 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 21, 2011

    Highly Recommended!

    I loved this book. Turtle is such a vivid and likeable character. I love her strength and resilence. A great sense of place.

    15 out of 17 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 24, 2011

    I'd give it five stars!!!!

    this book is very funny,and entertaining.

    12 out of 14 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted June 28, 2011

    Great kids book!

    Great story! My son who is 9 enjoyed the book and that says a lot. It is currently a Bluebonnet book and enjoyable even for a teen or adult.

    11 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 5, 2011

    Wow

    Wow...thts all i vam say this book made me speechless. If you have to do a book project this book isperfect. Lots of details!!!

    8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 6, 2011

    Great book!

    I read the book to my son in 4 days! Loved it!

    7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 21, 2011

    Great read!!!

    My daughter and read this book together. We laughed and we both felt sad at times. We loved the book!

    7 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 27, 2011

    I Also Recommend:

    9780142417751

    I sooo RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!

    i LOVE this book. i read it soo many times i never get tired of it!*

    7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 13, 2011

    I Also Recommend:

    2940011445439

    great read

    this book is amazing. enjoyed it a lot and would recommend to everyone.

    6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 8, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Fantastic Book

    I actually heard this as a recording b recorded books but the story is as awsome as heaven!

    6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 26, 2011

    BEST OF KEY WEST

    If you're a victim of "The Keys Disease" you'll love every word of this book. Based on actual events and Conch characters in the 1930's, it captures the true essence of old Key West before the mainstay of local livelihood became tourism. It makes my heart yearn for the simple, laidback days when Key West was truly a tiny island at the end of US 1 that harbored the founding Conchs of the island I love.

    6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 27, 2011

    Amazing and very interesting with a good plot. The author has a good way to keep you reading and wondering.

    Turtle is sent to the keys while her mama is trying to earn money for their family. While in thw keys, Turtle finds treasure.

    5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 1, 2011

    BORING!!!!!!!!!

    one of the most boring books ever!!! very stupid and doesn't make sense

    5 out of 18 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2011

    Best book eva

    This book is the best! Anyone who reads this book is gonna love it. U cant put it downnit took me foreverbto put it down. I read it in 2 days.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 19, 2012

    AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

    Best book ever!!!!! I read it last year and now I'm going to read it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 15, 2011

    soso

    it wasnt that good.

    2 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 5, 2011

    love it

    ....................I only read the sample though

    2 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2010

    Haven't read this but guessing its great

    Haven't read this book but i have read another one of her books called: Penny from heaven..... it was great so.... i bet this book is great :) ..

    2 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 8, 2012

    :)

    HER WE GO!! I WILL GIVE THIS BOOK A MILLON CHANCES!!! IT LOOKS SO GOOD!!!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 1, 2012

    Hala!

    This book was good! Turtle remind me of myself!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 14, 2012

    Best book

    This book is the best!!!!!!!! How the book was inspired by jennifers grandmother who lived in key west. Buy this book, i said buy it! :-D

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 134 Customer Reviews
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