Out-of-Text Resources

Here are some of the many places you can visit to "get in the mood" for Turtle in Paradise:

• Jennifer Holm's "official" website: http://www.jenniferholm.com
• Key West website: http://www.fla-keys.com/keywest
• Ernest Hemingway Official Publisher Page: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Ernest-Hemingway/1792713
• America in the 1930s: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html
• Shirley Temple "official" website:www.shirleytemple.com

Turtle in Paradise: The Essentials

Title: Turtle in Paradise

Author: Jennifer L. Holm                                                                          

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, New York

Date Published: May 11, 2010

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Themes: The Great Depression, Key West, Ernest Hemingway, Family Situations

Awards:

• 2011 Newbery Honor Book
• An ALA Notable Book
• Booklist Editor's Choice
• Chicago Library Best of the Best
• A Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2010
• Spring 2010 Junior Library Guild Selection
• 2011 Children’s Book Council Golden Kite Award for Fiction
• New York Times Bestseller
• Starred reviews in: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist             

Turtle in Paradise was a labor of love for Jennifer L. Holm.  Jennifer's great-grandmother, Jennie Lewin Peck, arrived at Key West from the Bahamas in 1897, and Jennifer can trace her roots to the Curry family of Key West.  Jennifer was born in California, but spent most of her growing-up years in Audubon, PA, right near King of Prussia.  Her father and mother are a pediatrician and pediatric nurse, respectively, and Jennifer grew up with four brothers.  She confesses that her childhood is a primary inspiration for her stories.  After graduating from Methacton High School and Dickinson College, Jennifer moved to New York City where she became involved in television production.  Jennifer always yearned to be a writer, and her very first attempt, Our Only May Amelia, earned her a Newbery Honor. Among Jennifer's other books are titles such as: 

• Penny from Heaven
• Babymouse!
• Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf
• The Stink Files

 . . . just to name a few.  Jennifer and her husband Jonathan Hamel make their home in California with their two children Will and Millie.      

Jennifer's voice in this book is in first person, as the voice of Turtle.  Turtle is a no-nonsense, hard-to-impress young lady, and nobody's fool.  Holm's style draws you in and gives you the sensation that you are truly in Key West (minus the sunburn!).  It is a breezy account of life in Key West in a simpler time.  Dialogue is a primary feature in the book, which allows for good character development, and descriptive passages paint the scenery.          

Some questions that may get your wheels turning as you begin to read this book:

1. Turtle was sent to a new place to relatives she had never met.  Have you ever experienced a time when you moved to a brand-new place and didn't know anyone?  How did you feel?  
2. Turtle mentions a lot of radio programs (TV was in its infancy), such as Little Orphan Annie and The Shadow, which greatly influenced the children of the 1930s.  Which television programs do you think affect kids the most today?
3. Turtle and Slow Poke become very good friends.  Do you think Slow Poke has a secret?  
4. Why do you think entertainment icons such as Shirley Temple and Little Orphan Annie were so popular?  How can you relate their brand of popularity with what was happening in the 1930s?  
5. The book mentions "Papa" Hemingway.  Who do you think he was?  Was he a real person?              

Turtle in Paradise: The Soundtrack

I chose to create a CD soundtrack, imagining that Turtle in Paradise was turned into a movie based on the book.  The songs were carefully chosen based on a number of factors.  First, Jennifer Holm mentions some songs outright, such as On the Good Ship Lollipop, or partially, when she entitles one of her chapters Can You Spare a Nickel, Pal?  Holm makes quite a few pop culture references:  Shirley Temple, the radio programs Little Orphan Annie, The Shadow, and Terry and the Pirates.  I was able to find the theme songs from each of those programs, and the Shirley Temple song On the Good Ship Lollipop was listed with some of the lyrics in the book.  Holm mentioned the Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs, which is famous for the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?  Since this story is set right in the midst of The Great Depression, two famous songs from that period were added: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? and Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries.  Holm mentions the phrase "Easy Street" quite often, which made me think of the song with the same name from the Broadway show Annie.  To round out the CD, I chose a song about The Keys, and a song sung in the 1940s movie To Have and Have Not, based on an Ernest Hemingway book.

As far as the teacher's perspective, if I assigned this project to my students, it would clearly reveal whether the student read the book thoroughly, or just picked songs about turtles and paradise.  It would be very easy to determine who spent time truly"diving in" to the book, and who may have only skimmed it.

By doing this project, it made me revisit what I had already read.  I had seedlings of ideas for the project, but leafing through the book reminded me about topics such as The Three Little Pigs, which I had forgotten.  Getting immersed in this assignment gave me a stronger feel and flavor for the time period. 

(Click on the pictures for a larger view)

Turtle in Paradise Video

 Just what is "Turtle in Paradise"?  Click on the video link below to get a taste of what's inside.  It's a journey back to a simpler time. 

Turtle in Paradise

What I'm Reading

The book that I just finished is called Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House, 2010).  It's set in Key West, FL in 1935, and follows an 11-year-old girl named Turtle who is sent down to stay with her aunt in Key West, but discovers that her visit is unexpected.  Her encounters with the Diaper Gang, Slow Poke, and Nana Philly, just to name a few, introduce her to a vastly different life than the one in New Jersey to which she's accustomed.

My First Blog Post

Hi, everyone!   I'm looking forward to having getting to know all of you better through this experiment.  Please send me your URLs.  Jody