Caleb Johnson BookReview #4

[Caleb]

I am so glad I chose this book by Jennifer L. Holm called "Turtle in Paradise." It was a random choice and it was a good thing I chose this one, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The story is a variant of a fish out of water story where our main character is sent away from their home or family or what have you to be with relatives or someone that will take them in during a hard time. The relatives or people that take in our main character usually are quite odd or eccentric or maybe there is some great mystery to be uncovered by our main character or some grand adventure to be had while there. Plot lines like this can be seen in stories like "A Series of Unfortunate Events," and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." The basics for a fish out of water story is when the main character is placed in a situation that is totally foreign to them; the main character might be normal while their new situation is wild and odd, or the main character might be odd and learns how to acclimate to "normal life." This story follows a girl named Turtle who is sent to live with her aunt and cousins in the Florida Keys during the great depression. While there Turtle must get used to her new life while discovering some new things about herself and the meaning of family. What really set this book apart for me was the writing; this book goes really fast, with very minimal descriptions that give you a good enough idea, a good deal of humor, and some great characters. I particularly liked Turtle, who is as tough as nails, her father left her mother before she was born, leaving Turtle to teach herself about the world. She is worldly-wise, quick witted, and quite charming in an odd way. She contrasts very heavily to her mother, who "has her head in the clouds" according to Turtle, she relies heavily on Turtle and has a revolving door of boyfriends, none of which have been all that good to her save the current beau Archie. Turtle is the realist while her mother, Sadiebelle, is the hopeless romantic optimist. You might have also noticed the names are pretty odd as well; that is very much on purpose and helps keep the flow of the book fast-paced. There are a host of uncommon names: Beans, Kermit, Buddy, Slow-Poke, Minnie, Pork Chops, and even a boy named Too Bad. These characters are all very memorable, I caught myself skipping over phrases like "he said" or "I exclaimed" and rushed to the dialogue between these characters because it was so vibrant and quick witted. It made for a quick and relaxed read. I would recommend this book to third graders on up if it were read to them and fourth or fifth graders on up reading by themselves. I encourage all of you to check it out for yourselves.