Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

I like so much about this book:
It has a sense of humor that sets a tone as appealing as the Key West scenery where it takes place.
The protagonist is sharp, independent, and more appealing than the scenery.

I like the story:Turtle's mom is a cleaning lady who has to send her daughter back home to live with her sister while she works for a family who won't allow children. Turtle has to squeeze in with her lively cousins in a chaotic, kid-centered, small-town atmosphere where she endears herself to the local residents with her unique personality.

I like the adventure:buried treasure; hurricanes; a brief stint stranded on an island and a barefoot summer.

I like the history:pictures at the end tie in the real-life inspiration for characters, events, and setting of the Key West during the Great Depression.

I like the lessons:
Turtle sometimes complains, in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner about the poor behavior of kids and comments cynically on the nature of adults until her transformed opinion is revealed toward the end with this comment on her aunt's house: "...it doesn't seem quite so small or shabby to me anymore. I can see past the rickety porch and the tin roof and know it's built just like its people, to sway in a storm and not break."

I do not like: having to point out the need to be cautious about ?'s mom's weakness in relationships with men. It's an uphill battle in this culture to help our children grow and internalize God's plan for love and marriage. Role models in books or movies are important. Turtle's mom isn't particularly helpful. An adult can understand this character and her motivations, but I'd be cautious assuming tweens will have mature judgement.

Mom left Key West pregnant, ran through a few relationships with irresponsible men, and fell for another con artist in the end. She's susceptible because she's needy. Her relationship with her own mom was damaging (resolved in the end). I cringed when Turtle had a couple conversations which alluded to one of the men on Key West being her father although she was unaware at the time that there was innuedo in her flippant comments.

Turtle's level-headed maturity is a remarkable testament in her circumstances. As an adult, you can understand that she is the adult in the relationship because she has to be. Unlike the other lessons learned, though, there is not much evidence from the story to redeem this as a life lesson. Mom doesn't seem to mature and neither she nor Turtle seem to wrestle with the ill-effects of this behavior. In fact, Turtle seems to sail rather smoothly right through it. That's a hopeful but not realistic effect of being fatherless.

SAFETY RATING: 1 Flag

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Take Me to the River by Will Hobbs

Remember those articles in Reader’s Digest that were called “Drama in Real Life?” This is such a story in novel form, and it has the same excitement appeal.

Two teen boy cousins meet up in Texas to run the Rio river with the first teen’s dad. Plans run aground when Rio, the Texas cousin, fails to tell Dylan, the Carolina cousin, that his dad had to go to Alaska to guide a river expedition.

The boys decide to run some of the river alone. Unexpectedly, U.S. military helicopters fly over them at the outset, and this foreshadows more ominous events: getting stuck in a hurricane, flooding river, and an encounter with one of Mexico’s 10 most wanted who happens to have kidnapped a little boy.

It’s a good man vs. nature story and age-appropriate.

My first caution would be for younger or sensitive tweens. I don’t think a threatening man brandishing a gun is too much excitement, but it might disturb some tweens that a newspaper article the boys read before the trip refers to 3 men beheaded in Mexico due to the drug cartels. There is also a reference to the bandit they run into and how he and his cohorts shot a couple judges and their clerks in the mountains. It wasn’t graphic. The judge who was the boy’s father survived, which was a good outcome for this age reader.

I would discuss the issue of lying. The boys had opportunities to tell the truth and know that they should have checked with their parents, but decide to go river running alone anyway. To their credit, they own up to their choice, admit that silence can be a lie, and pay some consequences. And they take it like men. I would note, though, that the excitement of the rescue of the little boy seemed to outshine the serious consequences of lying. I don’t think that was the intended message of the author, as I pointed out to my tweens: how else would the author have gotten the boys alone on the river in a hurricane? We couldn’t think of anything believable. Still, it’s worthy of discussing how lies break relationship: with people and more importantly, with God. You could argue that that point was a little “whitewashed” by the events of the story. Events, which were, incidentally, a fun ride.

SAFETY RATING: 2 Flags

See: Catechism of the Catholic Church: 24852483

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The Bushbabies by William Stevenson

The first half of this book pulls much material from the actual experience of the author who lived in several exotic foreign places with his wife and children. They were fascinated by the local wildlife and animals they adopted in these locales, and this interest is reflected in the story, much to the reader’s enjoyment.

Like the author’s family, the family in Bushbabies has a young girl named Jackie who has bonded with an exotic African creature, a bushbaby, and the family struggles frantically to get a permit to take him with them when they have to leave.

They do get the permit, and then board a ship to head home to England. The permit appears to be lost. At this point, the story diverges from the real-life experience. Due to a series of events, Jackie ends up on the dock as the ship departs. She finds Tembo, her father’s assistant and convinces him to help her trek across the wildlife reservation of Kenya in order to return the bushbaby to its original environment where, she is sure, it has the best chance of survival.

Due to the above-mentioned series of unfortunate events, Tembo, the faithful friend of the family, has been mistaken for a kidnapper, and he and Jackie have to elude capture as they race through the African wild, pursued by drought, thirsty creatures, and officials intent on Tembo’s capture.

In the urban environment, Jackie , the book-learner, holds the leadership role. In the bush, that role shifts to Tembo, who has much to teach her from the school of bush-learning.

It is a wild adventure, an uplifting story, and a journey of discovery. I especially loved the rich description of African life: mammals, insects, and scenery. The relationship of respect between Jackie and Tembo is also instructive.

It deserves the high safety rating, although with tweens, especially young ones, I would alert parentsand encourage them to discuss and help their tweens gain perspective on Tembo’s belief system. He has begun to learn of the one true God, which he accepts. At the same time, despite the contradiction, he believes in his tribal gods. The book is quite realistic and helps to put this in context, but tweens could use your input.

SAFETY RATING: 3 Flags

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Petey by Ben Mikaelsen

Imagine... a mother just gives birth and sadly cuddles her quiet baby in a room far too quiet. Her baby is still and her heart is heavy after learning of his severe birth defects.

You in?

I am.

After receiving another professional opinion that their child is an "idiot," the family reluctantly gives Petey up to the state after 2 yrs of caring for him with no support... a situation that causes sleep-deprivation and serious family-stress.

It is sobering and heart-wrenching to realize that Petey's mind is actually fine; his deformities caused by a severe form of cerebral palsy. Believing his mind to be a reflection of his body, he is committed to an insane asylum for all of his youth and young adult life.

Petey maintains an attitude of essential kindness and appreciation of the meager good that life offers him despite horribly unfair circumstances.

Petey's story is told in despair-defying intervals of caretakers who come into Petey's life and recognize the intelligence hidden behind his birth defects. For every insensitive, frightened person who mocks or avoids Petey, there is a character who upholds the dignity and sanctity of his humanity and brings sparks of hope and joy to Petey's environment.

Interestingly enough, the state, with its poor understanding of birth defects, grows in awareness of treatment over the course of Petey's life, yet, accurately enough, in Petey's old-age, has become so immersed in a Culture of Death, that while offering better diagnoses and treatments, its citizens are ready and willing to let Petey die off without treatment when he gets sick. It takes the rallying efforts of those who have recognized his humanity and gifts in his deformed state to get the doctors of the culture-of-death to rally to save Petey as readily as they would an elderly, non-cerebral-palsy patient.

I would caution parents to read Chapter 11 before deciding if the book is appropriate for their tween. This chapter deals with a young-adult Petey who falls in love with a lovely young lady who comes to work at his asylum. She is married; her husband is at war, and she romantically feels for Petey, recognizing the handsome man beyond his deformed appearance. While handled delicately, it is a heavy theme. Older would be better here, though the book is marketed to mid and younger tweens.

The only other issue I had was when a teen named Trevor, who befriends Petey, refers to an issue he has with his parents. He brings home an old friend of Petey's. He did not have time to get permission, and the friend is mentally slow. While Trevor has the moral high ground, as his parents would likely be uncomfortable and say no, Trevor does it anyway with the comment that "forgiveness is easier to ask for than permission." Moral high ground or not, that does skirt a little too close to the sin of presumption... see reference at the end...

Safety Rating: 2 Flags

See: Catechism of the Catholic Church: Presumption 2092

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