Turtle in Paradise

Turtle in paradise

by Jennifer L. Holm

This book is a Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee for 2012.

In 1935, ten year old Turtle finds herself being driven to Key West, Florida by a friend of her mother’s new boyfriend Archie, a travelling salesman. She is being sent to live with her aunt, whom she has never met, because her mother’s new employer does not want a child in her house along with the new housekeeper. Archie has promised her and her mother that he will make everything work out fine in just a little while.

When they arrive in Florida, it turns out that her mother never even told her sister that she was sending Turtle to live with her. There are already three cousins and a dog who greet Turtle and her cat with less than excitement.

Of course, Turtle has no choice but to make the best of circumstances since she has no way to get back home and no home anymore either. Her aunt, uncle and cousins make room for her in their family and she begins to explore this new environment.

She worms her way into her oldest cousin’s Diaper Gang business, a group of boys who take care of neighborhood babies in exchange for candy. In return her cousins teach her the ways of Florida Keys conchs. When Nana Philly, her grandmother, refuses to eat for her caretaker, Turtle determines to get to know her and succeed where others have failed.

While in the process of conquering Nana Philly’s quirks, Turtle comes across a map that seems to be a treasure map in Nana Philly’s piano. Taking it as a godsend and payment for her patience, she shows it to her cousin Beans and his friends who think it is real.

Together they “borrow” a boat and go to a remote island to find the treasure. After actually finding gold, they are deterred by the loss of their borrowed boat and a hurricane that almost destroys them. When they are found by the townspeople, they hope to live happily ever after.

But in reality, Turtle’s mother’s boyfriend Archie, who has meanwhile married her mother, runs off with all their share of the gold, leaving them to work out their own place in the family she had left behind.

This story is an example of historical fiction, using real facts and people as a basis for a fictional tale. The author manages to work in the feel of the society she describes and make the past come alive to those of us who are living in the present.

Holm, J. L. (2010). Turtle in paradise. New York: Random House.