First published 2010
Turtle has no illusions about happy endings. The eleven-year-old has learned to be tough in 1935, when jobs are hard to find and money even harder. When her mama takes work with a woman who won't tolerate children, Turtle accepts the separation without tears. She heads south to Key West, Florida, to stay with family she has never encountered. The tropical setting overwhelms her senses. Everything feels foreign and sweltering. Her boy cousins live like wild things, and the family harbors mysteries she cannot decode. The relatives run schemes that puzzle her, and rumors of buried pirate treasure float through conversations. Turtle has spent years building walls around herself, but this strange new world starts to crack her defenses. The girl who expected nothing begins to discover possibilities she never imagined. Her carefully constructed barriers crumble as Florida works its way into her heart.
Genres: family-life, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, coming-of-age
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Florida, Key West
Period: 1935
177 pages · Hardcover · Random House Books for Young Readers