Turtle in Paradise: The Graphic Novel: 08/04/21

Turtle in Paradise: The Graphic Novel by Jennifer L. Holm and Savanna Ganucheau is an adaptation of Holm's 2010 middle grade novel of the same title. It's a companion piece to Full of Beans (2016).

Turtle is sent to Key West when her mother takes on a new job as a live in maid. Her employer doesn't allow children, so Turtle is sent south to family she didn't know she had. Beans and his brothers are her cousins. Although Turtle's story was written first, it happens a year after Full of Beans.

As a graphic novel, Turtle's story is trimmed down to the most salient and emotional bits. She's angry at the people in her life. She's learned to trust no one, including her mother. Kids back home set her cat's tail on fire. The adults in her life are just as untrustworthy, even the man who is wooing her mother.

The novel has three acts: Turtles arrival in Key West, her eventual friendship with her cousins and their friends, and her acceptance of Key West as her new home. The acts are sewn together through episodic scenarios that build up to an exciting climax.

Turtle's journey is also settled on the road narrative spectrum. As she is traveling to family and ultimately with family, she is part of a family (33) of travelers. Her destination is home (66), first as a temporary place to be while her mother can't care for her, and then as something more emotionally permanent. Her route there is the Blue Highway (33), meaning the road she's driven down to Key West, and later the roads she learns as she follows her cousins and their friends around. Thus, save for the dramatic climax, Turtle's story is about a family traveling home via the Blue Highway (336633).

Five stars

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