Full of Beans

In this excellent prequel to the Newbery Honor-winning Turtle in Paradise, Holm recounts the origins of the Diaper Gang, the group of barefoot boys who have the run of Key West during the Great Depression. Their unofficial leader, Beans, narrates the arrival of the New Dealers who attempt to transform the poverty-stricken island into a tourist destination. Through Beans's eyes, Holm captures the population's economic distress ("Our town looked like a tired black-and-white movie"), with his father heading north to look for work, his mother's hands "red and raw" from doing the neighbors' laundry, and the ubiquitous "conch chowder." To help his family, Beans ventures into a life of crime, setting false fire alarms to create diversions for Cuban rum smuggler Johnny Cakes; dire repercussions motivate him to make amends, igniting his latent leadership skills to the town's benefit. Period details—like keeping Sears and Roebuck catalogues handy in outhouses, "marble mania," people with leprosy hidden by their families, and the Shirley Temple craze—make for entertaining and illuminating historical fiction. Ages 8-12. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Aug.)

Gr 4-6—Beans Curry and his family are down on their luck. Their whole town of Key West is; it's the Great Depression, and jobs and opportunities are scarce. Beans learned at an early age that adults lie to children, and he goes on to apply that logic to the New Deal stranger who shows up in town one day, claiming the government sent him to make their dumpy town a tourist destination. Sure that the man is a lunatic, Beans ignores him as he tries to find ways to make money for his family, and sometimes even for himself. Beans evolves as a character when he realizes the role he played in a tragedy. In an effort to make up for it, he spearheads his gang into helping the New Dealers make tourism successful in Key West. Those who have read Holm's Turtle in Paradise may remember Beans as Turtle's cousin. However, familiarity with the companion book isn't necessary to enjoy this new novel, which is told in a series of vignettes that build on one another, some humorous and others poignant. The book's younger characters have an "Our Gang" feel to them, with adult characters playing decidedly backseat roles. Holm peppers the characters' vocabularies with phrases and slang from the time, which may take some getting used to. The most surprising thing about the work is that it is based on real history. Holm weaves a charming combination of old family stories into the history of the New Deal's Key West experiment, including further information about the history of the project at the end of the book. VERDICT Young readers will enjoy this heartwarming, humorous introduction to a challenging time in American history.—Juliet Morefield, Multnomah County Library, OR