Turtle+in+Paradise

**Turtle in Paradise**

 * Jennifer L. Holm**

**Summary/Review**
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, Folrida, to stay with relatives she's never met. Florida's like nothing Turtle has ever seen. It's hot and strange, full of wild green peeping out between houses, ragtag boy cousins, and secret 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 most expected ways. (1)

**Author** **Bio**
Jennifer Holm was raised in Audubon, Pennsylvania with her four brothers. After graduating from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, she worked in television and later began to write. //Our Only May Amelia,// the story of a 12-year-old girl living in the late 19th century, inspired by a diary written by her great aunt, was her first published novel and was a 2000 Newbery Honor Book. Holm also has written a series starring Jane Peck, a young woman living in the 1850s (//Boston Jane: An Adventure//, //Boston Jane: Wilderness Days// and //Boston Jane: The Claim//); //The Creek,// a horror thriller; a series of graphic novels for young adults illustrated by her brother Matthew (//Babymouse: Queen of the World//, //Babymouse: Our Hero//,//Babymouse: Beach Babe//, //Babymouse: Rock Star//, //Babymouse: Heartbreaker//, and //Camp Babymouse//); and //The Stink Files//, a series co-written with her husband Jonathan Hamel starring James Edward Bristlefur, a cat raised by a British secret agent who is adopted by an American family and renamed Mr. Stink after his owner is murdered.//Penny from Heaven,// a story set in the 1950s starring an 11-year-old Italian-American girl, was a 2007 Newbery Honor recipient. //Turtle in Paradise,// which is set in the Great Depression in Key West, Florida, was a 2011 Newbery Honor recipient. (3)

**Other Works**
//Our Only May Amelia// //(1999) ;// //The Creek// //(2003) ;// //Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff// //(2007) ;// //Penny from Heaven// //(2007) ;// //Turtle in Paradise// //(2010)// __Boston Jane novel series:__ //An Adventure// //(2001) ;// //Wilderness Days// //(2002) ;// //The Claim// //(2004)// __Babymouse Series:__ //Queen of the World// //(2005) ;// //Our Hero// //(2005) ;// //Beach Babe// //(2006) ;// //Rock Star// //(2006) ;// //Heartbreaker// //(2006) ;// //Camp Babymouse// //(2007) ;// //Skater Girl// //(2007) ;// //Puppy Love// //(2007) ;// //Monster Mash// //(2008) ;// //The Musical// //(2009) ;// //Dragonslayer// //(2009) ;// //Burns Rubber// //(2010) ;// //Cupcake Tycoon////(2010) ;// //Mad Scientist// //(2011) ;// //A Very Babymouse Christmas// //(2011)// __The Stink Files series:__ //The Postman Always Brings Mice// //(2004) (with Jonathan Hamel) ;// //To Scratch a Thief// //(2004) (with Jonathan Hamel) ;// //You Only Have Nine Lives// //(2005) (with Jonathan Hamel)// //(2)//

**Awards**
Newbery Award Honor Book 2011 ALA Notable Children's Book 2011 Soc. Children's Book Writers Golden Kite

**Historical Content**
Turtle in Paradise was inspired by stories of Jennifer Holm's great grandmother, who immigrated to Key West at the turn of the last century. Holm blends family lore with America's past in this rich historical detail. (1)

**Major Themes**
Meaning of family and teaches history

**Citations**
1. http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/Turtle-in-Paradise-lesson.html 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_L._Holm 3. http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/2015/jennifer-holm