Nim at Sea

May 1, 2008
Gr 2-5-A brief prologue introduces Nim, a self-reliant girl, and her father, Jack, who live on an otherwise uninhabited island. They are joined by Alexandra Rover, a shy adventure writer who travels there to answer Nim's emailed call for help and decides to stay. As this sequel to "Nim's Island" (Knopf, 2001) opens, Alex and Nim have a quarrel, and she impulsively decides to depart with the supply plane. Before a repentant Nim can tell her father the bad news, Selkie, her sea lion friend, is kidnapped and taken aboard a cruise ship belonging to Troppo Tourists, a company with which Nim and Jack have had several bad encounters. The girl, accompanied by Fred, a marine iguana, swims out and is taken aboard the ship by two employees who assume she is part of a group of snorkelers. There she discovers Selkie imprisoned in a room with other exotic animals that the company's leader plans to sell illegally. With the help of two friendly kids, she comes up with a scheme to rescue the captives. In the end, Nim, Alex, and a very worried Jack all meet up in New York City for a happy ending. The protagonist's upbeat, unflappable affability is convincing enough to carry her through all manner of far-fetched scenarios and coincidences, and readers will happily take the trip right along with her. The line illustrations scattered throughout the book mirror the appealingly breezy and friendly tone of the text."Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library"

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