Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm 
(Yearling, 2010)


Summary from publisher:
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 ragtag boy cousins, family secrets, and even buried treasure!  Before she knows what's happened, Turtle finds herself coming out of the shell she's spent her life building, and as she does, her world opens up in the must unexpected ways.

Having read (and loved) several other Jenny Holm books, I've been looking forward to reading this one for a while.  Many of Holm's books are based on family stories, and they are usually gentle and heartwarming. This was the perfect book to wrap up my winter break reading spree.

My favorite character in this book was definitely Turtle.  She is one tough cookie, and I loved that she could hold her own with both her boy cousins and her cantankerous grandmother.  She's feisty and smart, and she doesn't want anyone but her to have the upperhand.  Deep inside, though, is a tender heart that misses her mother and wonders about the father she's never met.  It's a good thing I like Turtle, though, because most of the other characters in the book are somewhat undeveloped and play supporting roles.

This book definitely read more realistic fiction rather than historical fiction, but this story could really only have been set on Key West during the Great Depression.  Had Holm tried to set the book in the Keys in modern day, it wouldn't have been the same story at all, given the development and push for tourism that has taken place in the past 70 years.

I can see this book appealing more to girls than to boys, though the boys in this book, members of the notorious Diaper Gang, are hilarious.  It's a sweet story of finding family and finding your place in the world, and yes, happy endings (though perhaps not the ending you thought)