Turtle In Paradise

Holm, J. L. (2010). Turtle in paradise. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-83688-6

Plot Summary:

Turtle’s mom is a live-in housekeeper for people in 1935 during the Great Depression, time are hard for everyone. She is able to find a job with a lady, but she isn’t allowed to have her daughter with her, so she sends 11 year old Turtle to Key West to live with her unsuspecting aunt and cousins.   Turtle arrives to Florida which she considers the place hot and people to be strange. Turtle learns a bit about her family history as she learns that she truly is like a turtle, hard outer shell, soft inside.

Analysis:

Turtle has learned about how she doesn’t want to be as a grown up from her mom in her short 11 years of life. She believes that her mom is a dreamer and expects a “Hollywood” story for her life.  Turtle and her cat are sent to live with her aunt in Key West after her mom gets a job as a housekeeper with a lady that doesn’t like kids. Mom convinces her in saying that when she has the money need to buy their house from the Sears catalog, she and her new beau will go pick her up from her aunt’s.   Her aunt and cousins that she had never met, and who her mother didn’t warn that she would be arriving, make room for her; though they aren’t happy. Daily, Turtle is sent to play outside with her boy cousins and their friends though they don’t want much to do with her. She learns to stay near, and earns their trust. Turtle meets and interacts with many of the locals who teach her about pirates, and even an old woman who she learns is her grandmother, whom she had been told was dead by her mother.  Turtle wins her wheelchair bound grandmother over by helping out her aunts and with her cat. One day, while at her grandmother’s house, she finds a map listed as a pirate treasure map. Turtle enlists the help of her cousins and their friends as they go search to find it. Turtle already knows that not all stories have a “Hollywood” ending, but her visiting her family in Key West, allows her mom to learn the same thing.

Holm includes a variety of “local” language and dialect/slang throughout the story. The language was something that Turtle had to watch others to get clues about what the words meant.  Turtle may be a child, but she isn’t a dreamer. Those qualities allowed her to be liked by the Conchs in town. The ways that the cousins work for candy “because no one has money to spare,” is a way to show how everyone was resourceful during the Great Depression.  Holm uses a bit of her own background to write this novel as her great-grandmother emigrated with her family from the Bahamas to Key West in the late 1800’s. Her family shared stories of growing up in Key West with her, which she includes bits of in Turtle’s story. There are pictures included in the Author’s Note that help the reader make the historical connection, how the real helps the author weave Turtle’s story.  

Review Excerpts:

Newbery Honor Book 2011

Reviewed By: Pub Weekly, May 2010. “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.”

Reviewed By: Kirkus Starred, April 2010.“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.”

Reviewed By: Horn Book, From the July/August 2011 issue of The Horn Book Magazine. “Turtle’s voice is tart and world-weary. Though her narrative is peppered with references from the time, modern-day readers will have no trouble relating, and the fast-moving plot will keep them interested to the end.”

Connections:

Social Studies Connection-”Great Depression” Great way to either kick off or end a Great Depression unit.