The Problem with Paradise

January 1, 2007
Gr 6 Up-Fourteen-year-old Casey had been looking forward to spending the summer with Matt, her almost boyfriend. Now she will be spending it with her newly married dad, her stepmother, and her two brothers on a small tropical island where the turtles outnumber the people. Casey is not excited, but no one else seems to think it is a hardship. Things take a turn for the better when 16-year-old Josh comes to visit his uncle. Casey begins a relationship with him, but while hiding from a hurricane, she discovers that his family is involved in poaching the island's endangered turtles. This exciting coming-of-age story has danger, mystery, and romance. It moves quickly and will keep readers engaged."Sheilah Kosco, Bastrop Public Library, TX"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2006
The plot is familiar: a teen grudgingly spends the summer away from home, technology, friends, and boyfriend only to discover that there's a new, quite wonderful world waiting for her outside her usual frame of reference--if only she allows herself to experience it. Casey, 14, is sure she will be "bored to death" with her two little brothers and with her father and new stepmother, who are studying turtles on a remote Caribbean island. But deciding to make the best of it, she learns to sail, pulls back from a summer romance because she realizes it won't last, and steps up to protect her brothers during a crisis. With the exception of a storm (and a few secret kisses), there's not much tension or excitement in the first-person narrative. Yet Dahl pulls things together with a light touch and plenty of sand and sunshine, making her debut a pleasant change of pace from the explicit, angst-ridden narratives comprising so much of today's teen lit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)