Turtle in Paradise - Jennifer Holm
In 1935, young girl Turtle is sent (with her cat) to live with her cousins and aunt in Key West while her mother tries to make some money as a maid. Turtle is very much out of her element, and her cousins, who have a baby-sitting enterprise called the Diaper Club, don't make her feel entirely welcome. Still, she makes some interesting acquaintances, like a sponge fisherman who seems to be an old flame of her mother's, and her crotchety, mostly silent grandmother. This is a terrific story, educational, fun, and at times even moving. It's full of real-life details of 1930s Key West, from the conch and turtle fishing to the unusual ice cream flavors, the scorpions to the food to the hurricanes and buried treasure. All these details of the kids' escapades, mostly unsupervised, really brought color and verisimilitude to the tale. I wasn't a big fan of the art, which is fine but a bit blocky and uses anime shorthand instead of facial details. [4]
