In her Newbery Honor-winning Turtle in Paradise, Jennifer L. Holm introduced a scrappy bunch of barefoot kids living in Key West during the Depression--including the Diaper Gang, which takes care of people's "bad babies," mostly in exchange for homemade candy. Ten-year-old "Beans" Curry is Turtle's cousin and the founder of the Diaper Gang; Full of Beans, this dryly funny prequel to Turtle, is his story.
"Look here, Mac. I'm gonna give it to you straight: grown-ups lie," says Beans in the novel's first line. Readers know right off the bat that Beans is a no-nonsense, rather jaded sort. He says President Roosevelt is lying when he claims the economy is improving, "when anyone with two eyes could see the only thing getting better was my mother's ability to patch holes in pants." Potbellied, greasy-haired Winky lies, too, saying he'd give Beans a dime for 20 condensed-milk cans, not a dime for 50 cans.
Holm's vividly described Key West drips with heat, sways with Cuban music, buzzes with mosquitoes and stinks of garbage: "Our town looked like a tired black-and-white movie," says Beans. The town is so decrepit, filled with stray dogs and ripe with uncollected trash, in fact, that the federal government has taken it over. (This really happened, as the author's note explains.) The government's goal is either to spruce up the place enough to transform it into an irresistible tourist destination, or shut it down and evacuate the residents. Grownups may lie, but they're not lying about this: the threat of losing Key West's community is real.
Beans is skeptical of the fast-talking officials from "off the rock" in their silly underpants (his term for Bermuda shorts). Besides, he's more focused on being the "man of the house" for his mother and two younger brothers since his father, Poppy, left to go find work in New Jersey. This heavy responsibility inspires his "life of crime," helping out a rum-runner named Johnny Cakes. (Everyone has a nickname in Key West, even the dogs.) Beans is trying to do the right thing by earning a buck for his impoverished family, but he gets himself into moral hot water that makes coconut ice cream taste like sawdust in his mouth. He spends the rest of the book working hard to redeem himself. As Key West gets spiffed up and starts smelling of "frangipani and the tangy bite of the ocean," Beans manages to clean up some of his own mess.
Holm captures this colorful slice of Depression history with her usual vivacious wit. Expressions like "Mind your own potatoes" pepper the dialogue, and cultural references such as Bonnie & Clyde, Shirley Temple and the Sears, Roebuck catalogue set the scene. Children will love Beans, with his good heart and only occasional bad judgment. A fine and welcome companion for Turtle. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness
Shelf Talker: A ragtag posse of barefoot kids in Depression-era Florida's Key West takes center stage in Jennifer L. Holm's lively prequel to the Newbery Honor-winning Turtle in Paradise.