Turtle in Paradise (edition 2010)

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During a period of hard times Turtle has to move to live with family while her mother gets thing straightened out, While living in the Florida Keys, Turtle discovers many things about her self and her view of her family. ( )

Very predictable ending. But create at showing the culture in the area which the book took place. And great to show students that not all books have a happy ending. Most people during the great depression really struggled.

This book is very interesting and is set during the Great Depression. Students will love the humor but maybe not understand what is really going on in the story that an adult would. ( )

Very good story that has great family connections.
Set in Key West in 1935. Depression times. Kids will like the humor in this book. ( )

Turtle is a young girl sent to live with her relatives in Key West after her mother gets a job as a housekeeper with a lady who does not allow children in her home. She meets her cousins and aunt, and even grandmother, and has adventures taking care of babies and her grandmother. Then one day, she discovers a map to a hidden treasure. She and her cousins sail out in a stolen boat to the Key where the treasure is supposedly buried, and find both the treasure and trouble. Rescued finally by her estranged father, she splits the fortune with her cousins. However, her portion is stolen by her mother's new husband, who has sold them all the dream of a happy life together. But Turtle perseveres, and learns that she is happy just to have a family. ( )

This was such a little treasure. I have to admit that I was not thrilled when historical fiction carried the day this year as far as the Newbery winner and the Newbery honors... especially when Moon Over Manifest and Turtle in Paradise both feature female protagonists sent away from home during the Great Depression. But they are two very different stories, and Jennifer Holm did a lovely job of enabling me to embrace Turtle and the various people she meets in Key West. ( )

Love the spunky main character! And I was struck by how the ending wasn't happily ever after, just the way life is. (so cool to have just met the author, too--thanks Jenni for inspiring talk at SCBWI.) ( )

Another book that I really loved the setting, Depression era Key West. It really made what could have been a typical historical fiction really stand out. Although...the ending. Why do I have problems with endings. This one was slighly too abrupt. The falling action was playing out nicely and then BAM the end. I hate that. Take some time, give a reader a chance to say good-bye. ( )

I recommend this book to others. It was a very compelling and dramatic story of a young girl, named Turtle, raised by a single mother who is sent to live with her aunt, unannounced to her. Turtle meets a new side to her family and goes through trials of being accepted. ( )

This book had me captured from beginning to end! It was witty and entertaining. The main character was a strong girl who could take care of herself. It takes the reader to a different world to Florida during the Great Depression and lets us experience what life was like for many. I especially enjoyed that the pirate treasure was actually found however real love and family are valued most by the characters. This is a great book to help students understand this time in our history as well as a great example of contrasting female characters (Turtle and her mom). This book deals with themes of greed and love.

This book was a very easy read. It was interesting enough to hold my attention the whole time, and the plot moved very quickly (almost too quickly).

The book is about a girl named Turtle who moves to the Key West to live with her cousins. She does this because her mother takes a job as a live-in housekeeper and cannot keep Turtle with her. The story is told from Turtle's perspective, as she deals with her rotten boy cousins, tags along in the "Diaper Gang," gets to know her estranged grandmother, works on a sponging boat, and goes on a treasure hunt. Throughout the story, Turtle develops a connection to the Key West (the hometown of an abundance of her relatives), deals with the sadness of her mother's crushed dreams, and comes out on the other side in pretty good shape. ( )

I must say from the beginning that I really enjoyed this book and have found myself repeatedly recommending it to my students. Turtle is a delightful girl with a realistic (and refreshing) outlook on life. Sure, she has had her share of hard knocks, but she is clever and witty enough to survive and make the best of things. She repeatedly outsmarts older kids and adults alike. The Depression- Era Key West setting makes a great background for this hilarious and heartwarming story. The ending was not what I expected, but it was exactly what Turtle needed. A great read.

Rad this story if:
*you love children's fiction
*you love historical fiction
*you love stories that take place in an island setting
*you love stories with a strong female protagonist

from my blog: http://freespiritbooks.blogspot.com ( )

Summary: During the great depression a 11 year old girl named Turtle moves to Key West to live with some of her relatives. They have made a place for her and her cat t stay because the lady her mother went to work for did not allow children. Turtle plays and runs around with her boy cousins and friends. She develops unexpected relationships with her father and grandmother.

Personal Reaction: Beautiful story about what family really means and what we all should be thankful for!!

Classroom Reaction: Every classroom will have students who are going through a difficult time that could be similar to this book and reading this book as well as talking about it could help them realize they need to look and the bigger picture and try to make the best out of their situation.

This story about Turtle is a touching story of her unusual childhood. She is sent away as a young girl to live with relatives after her mom gets a new job. As a teacher, I would not choose this book necessarily for my whole class to read. It is not a book that all students would enjoy. ( )

This was a really fun book to read! As a teacher who encourages students to broaden their minds by reading historical fiction, this book is a great addition to the topic of the Great Depression. It was also great to learn about the culture of Key West Florida. My favorite part of the book is that the author uses her family history to inform this novel. The only part of this book that I wasn't a huge fan of was the unrealistic ending. ( )

Turtle in Paradise takes place during the Great Depression. Turtle's mother gets a job for a woman who hates kids, so she sends Turtle to go stay with her aunt in the Florida keys. Turtle's aunt has three boys who are part of the "Diaper Gang." Oddly enough, the boys' club takes care of babies to earn candy. Turtle gets a job working for Slow Poke on his boat so she can save money to help her mother buy a house. She meets her grandmother one day and slowly begins to form a relationship with her. She finds a treasure map in her grandmother's piano. After showing her cousins and the rest of the Diaper Gang the map, they plan to go searching for the treasure. They take a boat to one of the keys and search all day for the treasure. Just as they are about to give up, Turtle falls and lands on the stone that marks the treasure spot. They dig and actually find the treasure, but when they go to get back in the boat, they discover it has floated away. The group of kids is trapped on the key for a couple of days in a bad storm. Slow Poke finally comes and rescues them, and they find out that the big storm was a hurricane and they are lucky to be alive. Turtle's mother married her boyfriend Archie and comes to get Turtle. They plan to buy a house in Georgia, but Archie sneaks off to Cuba with the money. Turtle and her mother are crushed until they realize that they have family all around them and they can be happy there. Turtle also realizes at the end of the book that Slow Poke is her real father. The ending insinuates that Slow Poke and Turtle's mother may end up together.

In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida. ( )

Glimpse of Key West before it became a tourist destination. Colorful setting with Hemmingway making an appearance. ( )

Turtle is a smart mouthed, intelligent young lady who, through circumstances that are beyond her control, is forced to grow up far too soon. Turtle’s mom is a single mother in a time when that was frowned upon. She is idealistic where Turtle is realistic and sarcastic. When Turtle’s mom is forced to accept a job from an employer who doesn’t want children around, she sends Turtle to spend the summer with her sister in Key West, Florida. This book had the full package. It had humor (lots), adventure, mystery, and heart. I absolutely loved this story. 3rd – 5th graders will enjoy the tale of Turtle getting in touch with her roots and bonding with her cousins. Teaching ideas include the Great Depression, Key West, Florida, self-reliance, and the fishing industry. ( )

aA wonderful book that takes us into the life of a girl facing challenges of moving to a place unknown to her without her mother. It shows us how she learns to adapt and love. She is a girl mature beyond her years and she learns about life through the events that come from a hurtful stepfather and an imature mother. She sees life in a way that protects her and helps her to cope with things that would be so hard for any child.

I loved this book. It is a good novel that can be enjoyed at any age. I think I would have loved it as a child because it is full of adventure and emotion. Seeing Turtle unravel and come out of her shell is so exciting to read about and touching too.

I loved being able to visualize the places with Turtle in Key West. I loved how trusting and yet sarcastic her character was. She has to behave much older than her thirteen years, because her mother has sent her off to her Aunt's. She holds her own with the boys as well as the adults and as much as she is always honest, she is just as much clever to make people notice her. Great characterization for an adolescent girl! ( )

Set in 1935, a sweet story about a girl who finds herself one summer. ( )

This book did a fantastic job recreating what history was like then. She did a good job at panting pictures with her words, helping you vividly imagine the expressions on the Diaper Gang boys' faces or how she tried to ein her grandmother over when she would knock the bowl of food onto the floor. There was a lot of emotions to what Turtle wsa going through; how she felt in regards to her mother who was looking for love, when she realized that Too Late might be her father, and the reasonings behind everyone's nicknames. GREAT BOOK!!