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Summary
Summary
A mother dolphin and her albino calf are in peril in this heart-pounding adventure from the author of the acclaimed Wild Wings .
Kara is not sorry she punched Jake in the nose--she simply couldn't stand to hear him say one more nasty thing about her missing mother, or her out-of-work father...or her. But it's more than a broken nose to Jake's family: It's fuel for the fire. They've had it with Kara's family and their devotion to protecting marine life and saving the reef. Dredging the reef will mean fisherman can reel in more money. That's what the town needs.
But what the town gets is an unexpected new kid, a Paralympics sailing hopeful named Felix. When a baby albino dolphin caught in old fishing netting washes ashore, Felix and Kara work with vets and specialists to save her and reunite her with her mother, setting off a chain of events that might just save the reef.
Written by a veterinarian and brimming with bravery and beauty, this story of friendship, family, and community taps into the radiance of nature and dives into the important, timely issue of environmental protection and ecology.
Author Notes
Gill Lewis spent much of her childhood in the garden where she ran a small zoo and a veterinary hospital for creepy-crawlies, mice, and birds. When she grew up she became a real vet and travelled from the Arctic to Africa in search of interesting animals and places. Gill now writes books forchildren. Her previous novels, Sky Hawk, White Dolphin, and Moon Bear published to worldwide critical acclaim and have been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in the depths of Somerset with her husband and three children.
In 2015 she won the Little Rebels Children¿s Book Award for radical children¿s fiction for her book Scarlet Ibis.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-A year after her mother disappeared while working for an organization trying to stop the capture of dolphins for theme parks, Kara Woods still refuses to acknowledge that she won't return. Her frustration and anger intensify when she learns that in order to pay his debts, her father needs to sell the sailboat her parents rebuilt. Kara lashes out against Jake Evans, whose father employs most of the men in town to fish on his boats and who intends to dredge the coral reefs her mother tried to protect. She finds an unexpected ally in Felix, whose family moved to Cornwall from London. Despite having cerebral palsy, he quickly develops into an accomplished sailor in a specially equipped boat. After a white baby dolphin washes ashore badly hurt from getting tangled in fishing net, Kara and Felix help in its rescue. The resulting media attention brings crowds who might help stop the dredging. But can local residents afford to support conservation efforts when they could lose their jobs by opposing Evans? When the youngsters save Jake's life in a dramatic sea rescue, he realizes that short-term financial gains cannot compensate for environmental destruction that compromises the community's long-term future. Lewis smoothly incorporates information about threats to dolphins and other ocean life without slowing the pace. Tension between economic realities and environmental goals raises interesting issues to discuss. Kara's and Felix's flaws and strengths make them credible protagonists who demonstrate courage and skill in bringing the conflict to a satisfying resolution.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A fishing village in Cornwall, England, provides the setting for this multilayered drama. Kara and her father are struggling to make ends meet a year after Kara's mother's disappearance on a dolphin-saving expedition. Insecure employment and housing, an imminent lift on a 10-year ban on seabed dredging, and Kara's father's efforts to sell the family sailboat make Kara repeatedly feel the loss of her mother. Her discovery of a young albino dolphin caught in a fishing net heightens the community's tense debate over the seabed's fate. Lewis (Wild Wings) captures the complexities of communal living, creating fully realized personalities with opposing needs and values. Disabilities subtly inform character; for example, Kara and her father's dyslexia challenges them in school and work, while her friend Felix's cerebral palsy gives him divergent abilities on land and sea. A sense of moral urgency counters the characters' depression and helplessness, resulting in a poignant and satisfying story about acting for the greater good. Quietly enhancing the story are Aparicio's ornate pencil and India ink il-lustrations, which call to mind traditional Japanese paintings. Ages 8-12. Agent: Victoria Birkett, Miles Stott Children's Literary Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Excerpts
Excerpts
One White Dolphin By Gill Lewis Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing ISBN: 9781442414471 1 I rip another page from the book . I tear it out, right out. The paper is tissue thin and edged with gold. It flutters in my hand like a tiny bird, desperate to escape. I let it go and watch it fly up into the clear, blue sky. I rip out another, and another. The pages soar and tumble across cow-scattered fields into the haze above the silver blue sea. "Oi, Kara!" I look down. Jake's pink face is squinting up at me against the glare of sun. Ethan's standing next to him, trying to find fingerholds in the granite blocks of the wall. He jumps to pull me off, but I pull my legs up out of reach. The wall's too high. I'm safe up here. "Kara-Two-Planks!" yells Jake. "Teacher's looking for you." I run my finger along the rough leather binding of the book. It's heavy in my lap. The hard edges dig into my skin. I rip out another page and set it free, soaring upward, skyward. "You're in big trouble, Kara-Two-Planks!" shouts Jake. "That Bible is school property. You'll be sent to hell for that." "She won't get there, though," calls Ethan. "She won't be able to read the signs." Jake laughs. "Learn to spell your name yet, Kara? K-a-r-a W-o-o-d. Kara-Thick-as-Two-Planks-of-Wood." I've heard all this before, a thousand times. I turn my back on them and look down to the footpath on the far side of the wall. It runs one way to the coast path along the cliffs, and the other, down steps tangled with nettles and bindweed to the harbor in the town below. "What I want to know," says Ethan, "is Kara Wood as thick as her dad?" "My mum says," confides Jake, "that Kara's dad lost his last job because he couldn't write his own name." Ethan sniggers. I spin around and glare at them. "Shut up about my dad." But Jake's not finished. "I heard your mum had to write his name for him. Isn't that right, Kara?" My eyes burn hot with tears. "Who writes his name for him now, Kara?" I blink hard and turn back to the sea. The waves out there are tipped with white. I feel the hot sun on my face. I mustn't cry. I won't let them see me cry. If I ignore them, they'll go away like they always do. The sea breeze is damp and salty. It catches the white cotton of my shirt and billows it out like a spinnaker sail. I close my eyes and imagine I am sailing across an endless sea, a wide, blue ocean, with nothing else around me but the sun and wind and sky. "Oi, Kara!" Jake's still there. "It's a shame about the Merry Mermaid!" he shouts. If Jake knows about the Merry Mermaid, then everyone does. I turn around to look at him. A few other children from class are watching us from a distance. Chloe and Ella are both looking this way from under the deep shade of the horse chestnut tree. Adam has stopped his game, his soccer ball clutched against his chest. "Still," Jake says, "it never was much of a pub. It'll make a great holiday home for someone, a rich Londoner probably. I heard the food was terrible." Jake knows my dad works in the kitchens of the Merry Mermaid. He knows he'll have no job and no money to live on when it closes at the end of the summer. Jake would love it if we had to move from Cornwall. "Maybe your dad can come back and work for mine on our trawlers?" says Jake. "Tell your dad we'll be fishing for shellfish when the dredging ban is lifted in ten days' time. Dad's even bought new gear to rake every corner of the seabed out there. He can't wait." I just glare at him. Jake laughs. "I'll ask him if you can come too." I tighten my grip on the Bible's hard leather binding. Beyond, I see Mrs. Carter striding toward us. I could try and hide the book, but Jake and Ethan would tell her anyway. "Have you seen the advertisement at the boatyard, Kara?" asks Jake. He's looking at me now and grinning. Ethan's grinning too. They know something I don't. It's in Jake's voice, and he's bursting to tell me. Mrs. Carter's halfway across the playground. Her face is set and grim. "The Moana 's up for sale!" Jake shouts out. He's jubilant now. I scramble to my feet. "Liar!" It can't be true. I'm sure it can't. But Jake is smug. He pulls his trump card. "My dad's going to buy her and chop her up for firewood!" he shouts. "'Cause he says that's all she's good for." I hurl the book at him. The Bible's hard edge slams into Jake's nose and he drops like a stone, both hands clutched across his face. Mrs. Carter is running now. "Kara!" I glance down at Jake, moaning in the dirt below me. "Kara, come down now!" Mrs. Carter yells. But I turn away from them all and jump, leaving Jake Evans bleeding through his fat fingers, turning the dust-dry ground blood red. Excerpted from One White Dolphin by Gill Lewis All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher. Excerpted from One White Dolphin by Gill Lewis All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.