Turtle In Paradise

Turtle in paradise / Jennifer L. Holm ; read by Becca Battoe.— New York : Listening Library, 2010.
3 sound discs (3 hr., 48 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Unabridged
Compact discs
ISBN: 9780307738301

1. Cousins – Fiction. 2. Depressions -- 1929 – Fiction. 3. Families – Fiction. 4. Key West (Fla.) -- History -- 20th century – Fiction. 5. Treasure troves--Florida--Florida Keys—Fiction.

813.54

Turtle got her nickname from her mother because she doesn’t cry or get upset about by bad news, and in 1935 the world is full of bad news. Turtle’s mother has a new job in New Jersey as a housekeeper, but her employer won’t let her daughter live in with her. She thinks children are noisy and she can’t abide noise. So Turtle and her cat Smokey have been sent to live with her aunt and uncle and her three cousins, Beans, Kermit, and Buddy in Key West, Florida. All three cousins are boys and they own a dog named Termite, a cross between a German Shepherd and dachshund. It’s not love at first sight. The boys don’t want to make room for a girl and Termite doesn’t want to make room for a cat.

Beans, who, like Turtle, is eleven, is the boss of The Diaper Gang. It’s a babysitting service for infants. Beans tells Turtle it’s strictly, “No girls allowed.” This doesn’t bother Turtle. She has no desire to change diapers. The Diaper Gang is a thriving business because they not only change diapers, but they work for candy, not money. And they have an important trade secret: a never-fail cure for diaper rash. Tagging along with the Diaper Gang and their wagon full of tightly swaddled and dry charges, gives Turtle a chance to meet the neighbors. Everyone in Key West is known by a nickname: Slow Poke, Too Bad, Killie, Papa, Nana Philly, Pork Chop. Hardly anyone goes by their real name, but they all seem to know all about Turtle the day after she arrives. It’s a lot different from New Jersey.