Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

From the Publisher: "Life isn't like the movies, and eleven-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple. She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935, and jobs and money and sometimes even dreams are scarce. So when Turtle's mama gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids, Turtle says goodbye without a tear and heads off to Key West, Florida, to stay with relatives she's never met.  Florida's like nothing Turtle has ever seen. It's hot and strange, full of wild green peeping out between houses, ragtag boy cousins, and secret treasure. Before she knows what's happened, Turtle finds herself coming out of the shell she has spent her life building,..."
 Random House, 2010, 208 pp.

The Everlasting Now by Sara H. Banks

From the Publisher: "In depression-era Alabama, Brother Sayre grows up in his family's boarding house with a number of railroad employees who serve as substitute fathers. Brother strikes up a friendship with Champion, the nephew of his family's maid, who has come south from Detroit." Publisher:  Peachtree, 2010, 176 pp.