Cover Image

Turtle in paradise

by Holm, Jennifer L.

Format: Book on MP3 Disc 2012
Availability: Available at 3 Libraries 3 of 3 copies

Available (3)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection j AUDIO DEVICE Holm
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j AUDIO DEVICE Holm
 
 
CLP - Squirrel Hill Children's Audiovisual Collection j AUDIO DEVICE Myers
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  Children's Audiovisual Collection
 
Call Number  j AUDIO DEVICE Myers
 
 
Sewickley Public Library Juvenile Audiovisual MP3 JF HOL
NO REQUESTS
Location  Sewickley Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Audiovisual
 
Call Number  MP3 JF HOL
NO REQUESTS
 
 

Summary
At the height of the Great Depression, eleven-year-old Turtle is forced to move to Key West, Florida when her mother takes a housekeeping job for a woman who detests children. Having spent much of her life indoors, Turtle finds Florida to be strange and adventurous.
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 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 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 has spent her life building, and as she does, her world opens up in the most unexpected ways.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "*Starred Review* 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 eye from cousins with monikers like Buddy and Beans. As Turtle soon learns, everything is different in Key West, from the fruit hanging on trees to the scorpions in nightgowns to the ways kids earn money. She can't be part of her cousins' Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), which takes care of fussy babies, but when she finds a treasure map, she hopes she'll be on Easy Street like Little Orphan Annie. Holm uses family stories as the basis for this tale, part romp, part steely-eyed look at the Depression era. Reminiscent of Addie in the movie Paper Moon, Turtle is just the right mixture of knowingness and hope; the plot is a hilarious blend of family dramas seasoned with a dollop of adventure. The many references to 1930s entertainments (Terry and the Pirates, Shirley Temple) will mostly go over kids' heads, but they'll get how much comics and movies meant to a population desperate for smiles. An author's note (with photos) shows Holm's family close-up.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Turtle, the witty 11-year-old narrator of this standout historical novel, is a straight shooter: "Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I've lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten." When her romantic and unrealistic mother, who's always falling in and out of love, gets a housekeeping job that won't allow children, she sends Turtle to her estranged family in Depression-era Key West. Though her mother hails Key West as paradise, Turtle initially think it's a dump ("Truth is, the place looks like a broken chair that's been left out in the sun to rot"). Two-time Newbery Honor author Holm again crafts a winning heroine who, despite her hardened exterior, gradually warms to her eccentric family members, including her unruly cousins and waspish grandmother (who Turtle thought was dead). Infused with period pop culture references, a strong sense of place, and the unique traditions and culture of Key West natives (aka "Conchs"), this humorous adventure effectively portrays Turtle as caught between her mother's Hollywood-inspired dreams and the very real family and geography that offer a different kind of paradise. Ages 8-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Cousins -- Juvenile sound recordings.
Families -- Florida -- Juvenile sound recordings.
Depressions -- 1929 -- Juvenile sound recordings.
Cousins -- Fiction.
Family life -- Florida -- Fiction.
Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction.
Depressions -- 1929 -- Fiction.
Key West (Fla.) -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile sound recordings.
Key West (Fla.) -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction.
Adventure stories.
Children's audiobooks.
Publisher New York : Solon, Ohio :Listening Library ;2012
Findaway World, LLC,
Edition Unabridged.
Contributors Battoe, Becca.
Findaway World, LLC.
Listening Library.
Participants/Performers Read by Becca Battoe.
Language English
Notes Unabridged.
Title from Playaway label.
Previously released by Listening Library in 2010.
One set of earphones and one AAA battery required for playback.
Accompanying material may vary.
System Details Issued on Playaway, a dedicated audio media player.
Description 1 audio media player (4 hr.) : digital, HD audio ; 3 1/4 x 2 in.
ISBN 9781616378011 :
1616378018 :
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