Turtle in Paradise

Bibliography

Holm, Jennifer L. 2010. Turtle in Paradise. New York: Random House. ISBN 9780375836909

Plot Summary

During the Great Depression, 11-year-old Turtle is sent to live with her aunt and cousins in Key West, Florida. When she arrives, she meets them for the first time. She immediately begins to spend all of her time with her cousins and the neighborhood boys. The boys run the “Diaper Gang,” a rough and tumble group who cares for the island babies. They initially do not let her join this “gang,” but she prides herself on being clever enough to be accepted. Although the island provides buffering from the Great Depression, Turtle knows that elsewhere people don’t have enough to eat or a roof over their heads. Once she adjusts to the heat and culture, she finds herself with plenty to eat, family all around, and an island to explore. There’s possibly buried pirate treasure to find! 

Critical Analysis

Holm captures the tropical island feel of constant heat, humidity, and omnipresent tropical insects and animals. She uses wonderful imagery with examples like shaking out shoes to check for scorpions, although few people wear shoes. She also uses local terms, such as alligator pear for avocado and leche for Cuban coffee. Holm also blends in the popular culture of the time by referencing Hollywood films and newspaper comics. 

Holm uses extensive figurative language early in the book, but this dwindles after the first few chapters. For example, she began using terms like only “a heartbeat later” but reverted to very few phrases with any local flavor. She did maintain nicknames for all the island characters because that was the common practice on their key.  

Turtle comes from a home with a caring, working, mother and no strong father figure. She channels her mother’s love of Hollywood by reflecting on different situation through Little Orphan Annie. On the island, she meets new kids and tries to fit in, but retains her strong character. The kids in this story are typical boys looking for trouble, but with a softer side of caring for the island babies as the “diaper gang.” One of the locals reminds her of her namesake - that they have a hard shell but soft underside.

This book felt more like a fictional book than an historical fiction creation. Many of the details that the author gives were not unique to this story and could be found in any story about the Keys or island living. This gave a generic feeling to the story. Holm does include an author’s note with photos, a short bibliography, and web sites about the Keys, but they are not specific to the story. For example, two of the resources are about the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935; however the only reference to this hurricane in the story is a passing note that it happened and killed a lot of people. This could be true of any hurricane in the early part of the century. Turtle in Paradise is a nice escape into the Florida Keys, but could have included more than vague details about that time period to better qualify as historical fiction. 

Review Excerpts

This book is a:

  -  New York Times bestselling book

  -  Newbery Honor book 

School Library Journal

“In 1935, jobs are hard to come by, and Turtle's mother is lucky to find work as a live-in housekeeper. When she learns that her employer can't stand children, she sends her 11-year-old daughter from New Jersey to Key West to live with relatives. Turtle discovers a startlingly different way of life amid boisterous cousins, Nana Philly, and buried treasure. This richly detailed novel was inspired by Holm's great-grandmother's stories. Readers who enjoy melodic, humorous tales of the past won't want to miss it.”

Booklist

“Eleven-year-old Turtle is not one to suffer fools gladly. And she runs into a lot of fools, especially the no-goods her starry-eyed mother meets. So it's a tough little Turtle who arrives in Key West in June of 1935…As Turtle soon learns, everything is different in Key West, from the fruit hanging on trees to the scorpions in nightgowns to the ways kids earn money. She can't be part of her cousins' Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), which takes care of fussy babies, but when she finds a treasure map, she hopes she'll be on Easy Street like Little Orphan Annie. Holm uses family stories as the basis for this tale, part romp, part steely-eyed look at the Depression era…the plot is a hilarious blend of family dramas seasoned with a dollop of adventure. The many references to 1930s entertainments (Terry and the Pirates, Shirley Temple) will mostly go over kids' heads, but they'll get how much comics and movies meant to a population desperate for smiles.”

Connections 

-  Some chapters of this book would be easily adapted into a readers theatre.