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Inspired by family stories, two-time Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Holm beautifully blends family l...
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Jan 20, 2011
Amy
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Newbery Honor Book
Felt a bit forced and some things didn't ring true, but the notes at the were very interesting/illuminating
Felt a bit forced and some things didn't ring true, but the notes at the were very interesting/illuminating
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Feb 14, 2012
Mimi
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This was a really good coming-of-age story. I'd guess that children eight and up would be interested in it. The novel takes place during the Great Depression, primarily in Key West—Key West before it became a tourist attraction.
The author's great-grandmother grew up in Key West, and the author did a lot of research, so the setting was really realistic, and some of the characters were even based off of real people that lived there during that time. There were pictures of people and the More...
The author's great-grandmother grew up in Key West, and the author did a lot of research, so the setting was really realistic, and some of the characters were even based off of real people that lived there during that time. There were pictures of people and the More...
Feb 13, 2012
Barb
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Eleven-year-old Turtle has not had an easy life being raised by her scatterbrained, single mom during the Depression. Her soot-colored, grey-eyes see the world for what it is while her mother has had as many different jobs as boyfriends. Turtle copes by being tough and cynical. When her mother gets a job as a housekeeper for a rich lady that doesn’t like children, Turtle is shipped off to her aunt whom she has never met in Key West, Florida. Turtle learns to love her new, extended family and ha
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Jan 26, 2012
Bethany
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Turtle's mama is a housekeeper, and the house she's currently keeping is owned by a lady who isn't so keen on children. Hates them, actually, but it's the Great Depression, and Mama needs the job, so Turtle gets sent south to live with her mama's sister and her family in Key West. Only, Mama never told her that Turtle was coming, so when she gets there, no one's expecting her. Still, her aunt gives her her cousin Beans's room, and Turtle starts to make herself at home. Beans and Kermit (anot
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Jan 23, 2012
Kgmedia
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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 e More...
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 e More...
Jan 21, 2012
Laura
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Our school hosts a buy-one-get-one-free book sale every semester. I'm not sure what intrigued me about this book but I was buying another hardback, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, and I wanted one of equal value. I was probably attracted to the colors on the cover and I know I've been homesick for the beach for quite a while now. For whatever reason, I bought it.
It's been sitting on my bookshelf at school, unread, since then. I wasn't feeling well so I decided I needed some light More...
It's been sitting on my bookshelf at school, unread, since then. I wasn't feeling well so I decided I needed some light More...
Jan 03, 2012
Michelle
rated it:
Turtle in Paradise is just the kind of book I love to read best. Sweet and clean, well-crafted, beautiful, with a host of characters I wish I knew, and an open-armed family at the end. It claimed Newbery honors this year.
Turtle grew up in New Jersey with her single mother. She’s the steady one in the family. “I think the color of a person’s eyes says a lot about them. Mama has soft blue eyes, and all she sees is kittens and roses. My eyes are gray as soot, and I see things for w More...
Turtle grew up in New Jersey with her single mother. She’s the steady one in the family. “I think the color of a person’s eyes says a lot about them. Mama has soft blue eyes, and all she sees is kittens and roses. My eyes are gray as soot, and I see things for w More...
Dec 07, 2011
Amanda
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Genre: Junior book—Historical Fiction
Summary: Turtle’s mother sends her to stay with relatives in Key West, Florida while she makes money to support their family. Turtle experiences many adventures such as finding a grandmother, dealing with boys, getting rid of her cat, and find treasure. Turtle thought her life was about to change for the best but the unexpected happens.
Critique:
a. The greatest strength in this book is the character, Turtle.
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Summary: Turtle’s mother sends her to stay with relatives in Key West, Florida while she makes money to support their family. Turtle experiences many adventures such as finding a grandmother, dealing with boys, getting rid of her cat, and find treasure. Turtle thought her life was about to change for the best but the unexpected happens.
Critique:
a. The greatest strength in this book is the character, Turtle.
More...
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Oct 25, 2011
Carol
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Turtle's mom has a new housekeeping job for an older woman who can't tolerate children so the only solution is to send Turtle to the Florida Keys to stay with an Aunt and numerous other relatives that she has never met. Resilient and capable Turtle takes it in stride and is even pleasantly surprised to find a fairly comfortable place with boy-cousins Kermit, Beans, Buddy and their best friend Pork Chop. She knows that life is nothing like Hollywood portrays in their movies, Shirley Temple indeed
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Oct 19, 2011
Booklist starred (April 15, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 16))
Grades 4-6. 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. She’s been sent to Florida to stay with relatives because her mother’s latest housekeeping job doesn’t allow children. Unfortunately, Mama has neglected to tell Aunt Minnie she’s coming, and Turtle gets the stink e More...
Grades 4-6. 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. She’s been sent to Florida to stay with relatives because her mother’s latest housekeeping job doesn’t allow children. Unfortunately, Mama has neglected to tell Aunt Minnie she’s coming, and Turtle gets the stink e More...
Oct 02, 2011
Mary Louise
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No wonder eleven-year-old Turtle has a hard shell around her. Her single mother is starry-eyed about every no-good man she meets and thinks they'll rescue her and Turtle from the hardships of the Great Depression. And now Turtle's mom has a new job as a maid for a lady who doesn't like kids. So Turtle and her cat are sent to live on Curry Lane in Key West Florida in 1935 with her mother's sister, Minnie, who doesn't even know she's coming and really can't afford to keep her niece, along with he
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Aug 15, 2011
Green Bean
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It's 1935 and Turtle's mama, deathly low on cash like the rest of the country, sends her to Key West, Florida to rabble-rouse with a bunch of long lost cousins whose names are as wacky as hers is. Pork Chop, Beans and Kermit comprise a ragtag babysitting posse called The Diaper Gang, who cruise around town causing trouble and curing bungy rash. Turtle meets a seemingly demonic grandmother she thought was dead, befriends a kindly rum-runner who loves the funnies as much as she does, and learns to
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Aug 09, 2011
Love YA Lit
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Nora's Review: Turtle is an eleven-year-old girl living through the Great Depression. Her hopelessly romantic mother works as a live-in housekeeper, and when she takes a job with a mean lady that hates children, Turtle is sent to live with her relatives in Key West.
The Conchs of Key West live in poverty, but food grows everywhere, so at least they aren’t hungry. Turtle’s many cousins (all boys) quickly take her in, but they still won’t let her join in all their fun – she has to work More...
The Conchs of Key West live in poverty, but food grows everywhere, so at least they aren’t hungry. Turtle’s many cousins (all boys) quickly take her in, but they still won’t let her join in all their fun – she has to work More...
Jun 29, 2011
Elizabeth
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Another great book written in the Great Depression Era. I recently read "Moon Over Manifest" which also involves a young girl being sent to live with others during the Great Depression. "Turtle" is a courageous and very spirited young girl who is sent to live in Key West from her mother in New Jersey. I could relate to the moving so far away from home. The line on page 23 "You're not from around here, are you?" brought me back to when I moved to Virginia. The wh
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Jun 10, 2011
Maeleah
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Apr 19, 2011
Eileen
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Turtle is an 11 year old girl growing up during the depression. Turtle and her single mom often struggle to get by. Turtle is sent to live with family when her mother's live-in housekeeping job does not allow children. Turtle arrives in Key West and is immediately surrounded by family members she has never met before and lots of adventure. Archie, one of Turtle's mother's boyfriends tells Turtle that everyone has a dream. Turtle thinks all of her dreams have finally come true, and maybe the
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Apr 03, 2011
Abbie
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America is in the midst of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, and Turtle's mom just got a new job as a maid. Unfortunately, her new boss doesn't like children, so Turtle has to leave New Jersey to live with relatives in Key West. To make matters worse, her aunt and cousins are not happy to see her because they are struggling financially, too.
The boys won't let her join the Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), but Turtle is determined to prove she's just as clever and tough as any boy. More...
The boys won't let her join the Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), but Turtle is determined to prove she's just as clever and tough as any boy. More...
Mar 21, 2011
Adrienne
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Turtle is realistic about life. She knows that times are tough right now, and that it makes sense for her to go and stay with relatives in Florida while her mother works as a housekeeper in New Jersey. She also knows that the funny pages are the best part of the newspaper, that Shirley Temple is incredibly annoying and that kids are, in general, just as rotten as adults. What she doesn't know is that she will find a lot to like about Key West: the Diaper Gang, cut-ups, sponge fishing, hunting fo
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Mar 09, 2011
Sarah-Greenbeanteenqueen
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I'm a bit mixed on if I think this book was Newbery Honor worthy. On one hand I really enjoyed it, the storyline is great, and the author weaves together a lovely plot. On the other, I thought there was a lot that wasn't developed and the book wrapped up too quickly. The end of the book felt much different than the beginning.
The setting of 1930's Key West is a unique one-I didn't know much about Key West during this time, so I learned a bit from this book. But while this is a histori More...
The setting of 1930's Key West is a unique one-I didn't know much about Key West during this time, so I learned a bit from this book. But while this is a histori More...
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Feb 04, 2011
Tara
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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 More...
Florida's like nothing Turtle has ever seen. It's hot More...
Jan 28, 2011
Linda
rated it:
Continuing my quest to read all Newbery medal and honor winners, this recently announced winner of the 2011 Newbery honor award, is well worth the time spent reading.
Fatherless, sassy, spirited, spitfire 11 year old Turtle has no illusions of a fairytale life. It is 1935 and the depression leaves people hungry for work, for food and for stability. And, while Shirley Temple sings on the screen about the good ship lollipop, Turtle knows that in reality, her own boat is sinking with gapin More...
Fatherless, sassy, spirited, spitfire 11 year old Turtle has no illusions of a fairytale life. It is 1935 and the depression leaves people hungry for work, for food and for stability. And, while Shirley Temple sings on the screen about the good ship lollipop, Turtle knows that in reality, her own boat is sinking with gapin More...
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Jan 20, 2011
Jenk
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You may recognize Jennifer Holm's name from her "Babymouse" books (which are devoured by my girls and some first grade boys alike) and her two Newbery Honor books, "Penny from Heaven" and "Our Only May Amelia". Holm is building quite the graphic novel and historical fiction empire. In "Turtle in Paradise", Turtle is dropped off unceremoniously with her relatives in Key West when her mother goes to work as a housekeeper during the Depression. This is one
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Jan 17, 2011
Caren
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The time and place of the setting are what added interest in this story for me. In the midst of the Great Depression, Turtle (nicknamed for her 'hard shell'--she hasn't cried since she was five years old)is sent to live with an aunt in the Florida Keys, an impoverished area at that time.Turtle's mother works as a housekeeper and her current employer won't allow children. Turtle doesn't know who her father is, and her mother seems to have bad luck with men. Turtle, apparently, often has to mother
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Nov 22, 2010
Mary
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In 1935 Turtle is sent to live in Key West with her aunt and cousins when her mother goes to work as a live-in maid for a woman who doesn't like children. It's the Depression, and no one has much money, but Turtle's family welcomes her and shares what they have. Turtle joins her cousins Beans and Kermit and their friends Pork Chop and Ira - The Diaper Gang - as they babysit for some of the island's babies. She gets to know a (mean) grandmother she didn't know she had and friends of her mother's
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Nov 12, 2010
Sharon
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I love reading good historical fiction because I find it one of the hardest genres to recommend, and Jennifer Holm is definitely a great master of the genre. I admired the way she effortlessly wove amusing personal anecdotes through Penny From Heaven while also adding so many interesting, historically accurate details, and I think I like this book even better. If anything will finally net her the Newbery, it would be this book.
Everything about this book is strong and masterful: the Key More...
Everything about this book is strong and masterful: the Key More...
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Oct 21, 2010
Eva
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It's 1935, and from the first page the reader is plunged into a world of Necco wafers, Ford Model As, and dusty travelers. But it isn't just a bunch of Depression-era term-dropping that brings the era alive, but rather the way that Holm uses Turtle's spunky narrative voice, the wise-cracking dialogue of the Diaper Gang, and all kinds of details large and small to great effect. In our over-protective world, it's down-right exotic to hear how these young and dirty boys haul babies around with casu
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Sep 11, 2010
Bruce
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Turtle got her nickname from her mother because she doesn’t cry or get upset about by bad news, and in 1935 the world is full of bad news. Turtle’s mother has a new job in New Jersey as a housekeeper, but her employer won’t let her daughter live in with her. She thinks children are noisy and she can’t abide noise. So Turtle and her cat Smokey have been sent to live with her aunt and uncle and her three cousins, Beans, Kermit, and Buddy in Key West, Florida. All three cousins are boys and they ow
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Oct 01, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. I read it because it is on the Elementary Battle of the Books list. That, however, is what I do not like about it.
A young girl, Turtle, needs to go to Key West to stay with family she has never met while her mother works as a housekeeper. This is set a few years after The Great Depression while things are still in the recovery phase. She is a bit of an old soul and the story is told from her perspective. She dreams of the day she and her mother will be able More...
A young girl, Turtle, needs to go to Key West to stay with family she has never met while her mother works as a housekeeper. This is set a few years after The Great Depression while things are still in the recovery phase. She is a bit of an old soul and the story is told from her perspective. She dreams of the day she and her mother will be able More...
Jun 12, 2011
Josiah
rated it: 
I want to say right off the bat that Jennifer L. Holm's writing style never ceases to be a delight. There's a definite range when it comes to the emotional depth of her many books, but whether or not it looks as if any one story in particular will have legitimate Newbery aspirations (aspirations which have now come to fruition for Jennifer L. Holm a remarkable three times in her career, through 2011), one knows that the experience of reading anything that she writes is going to be an enjoyabl
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Apr 21, 2011
Laura
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In 1935, America was in the middle of a depression. Two girls, Billie Joe and Turtle, live in different parts of the country, but they both struggle to find their place in a world that is uncertain and scary. In Turtle in Paradise, Turtle is sent to live with her mom’s sister in Florida since her mother cannot afford to take care of her. There, the only child becomes a part of a big family full of mischievous boys who have their own babysitting service where they are paid in candy. Through funn
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