Dolphins

November 15, 2017
In this middle-grade adaptation of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins (2015), Casey escapes her city life and journeys around the world to better understand how dolphins live, think, and relate to humans.After experiencing a life-changing swim with dolphins, Casey puts her job on hold and begins researching and writing about cetaceans. The book includes interviews with experts, her experiences traveling the world, and fascinating tidbits, including how dolphins evolved from "mammals that resembled small, hooved wolves." She encourages readers to delight in the animals' gifts by highlighting their brain science and complex personalities. With approachable prose and engrossing detail, she describes everything from how a dolphin pod saved a suicidal girl to how their sonar works. Casey is tough on the marine-park industry, poachers, man-made underwater acoustic smog, and humanity's pollution of the Earth and its waters. She writes explicitly about the slaughter of dolphin populations at the hands of humans, candidly addressing their extermination in Taiji, Japan. The final chapter, on dolphins in Minoan art, is an unsatisfying tangent even though the overall book is a riveting look at the world of dolphins.A compelling and eye-opening story of the interconnected worlds of humans and dolphins that's full of engaging detail and vivid language. (acknowledgments, selected bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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December 1, 2017

Gr 6 Up-There's something magical about dolphins. Each year, thousands of people set out to touch or swim with them. After a chance encounter with a pod of dolphins, Casey decided to seek them out. She goes to Ocean World and swims with dolphins in captivity. She goes to Japan to protest a town that brutally kills dolphins for profit. The book follows her travels. Though Casey writes in an engaging narrative style, overall the content lacks a true personal touch. Readers will learn a lot about dolphins in captivity and the science of dolphins, but not much in the way of what Casey gained from her experiences or what made them meaningful. An eight-page photo insert is included. VERDICT While the cover and subject matter will certainly attract tweens, the meandering narrative won't hold them.-Esther Keller, I.S. 278, Brooklyn

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2017
Grades 5-8 Reeling after the death of her father, Casey took to the sea, fleeing the oppressive concrete of Manhattan for the clear waters of Hawaii. It was in Maui that, while swimming alone, she encountered a pod of spinner dolphins that swam with her for a time before continuing on its way. Deeply moved, Casey traveled the world learning about the connections between dolphins and humans. Part memoir, part scientific exploration, this young readers' adaption of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins (2015) takes readers through both the highs and the lows of human-dolphin relationships. In Greece, Casey saw ancient artwork depicting dolphins; in Ireland, she met Fungie, the Most Loyal Animal on the Planet, that took up residence in Dingle Bay. In Taiji, Japan, however, she joined a group protesting the whaling town's seven-month dolphin hunting season. For dolphin-lovers and aspiring marine biologists, this provides a fascinating look into a rarely seen world, and a glimpse of cultural differences around the globe.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)