The Shark Whisperer

March 1, 2014
With help from an array of friendly wildlife, a band of summer campers stages a rescue and stymies a ruthless harvester of shark fins in this series opener. Twelve-year-old Tristan joins other newbie Seasquirts invited to a sea park in the Florida Keys and is delighted to discover not only that he can talk to sharks, but his new camp mates are endowed with similarly unusual abilities. These range from porpoiselike echolocation to hagfish-style "mucus deployment skills." These are all quickly put to the test when a trio of older camp teens is captured by a gang of "finners" in the Bahamas. The hastily planned rescue features a massive poop attack from flocks of birds, a bit of lock picking by an intrepid octopus and exhausting treks over land and sea to evade thugs on jet skis. Though sometimes a little too human--sharks talk to Tristan in West Indies accents: "Mon, we no want to eat your bony butt!"--the sea life, along with reefs, bioluminescence and other marine wonders, is generally depicted by Prager, a marine scientist, in accurate, vivid detail. The story's color and energy fade in the wrap-up chapter, which is largely explication, but overall, there's more than enough action and humor to pull readers along. Some may feel that the climactic eco-revenge is carried a bit far, but it's a splashy startup with a promising premise. (maps) (Adventure. 10-12)

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2014

Gr 5-8-The Sea Guardians are human teens with special abilities in the water. Tristan Hunt is a klutz on land-a fact that readers are never allowed to forget-but a natural in the sea. He's a fast swimmer and he can communicate with sharks. The latter trait has brought him to the attention of a group of adults who, with government funding, run a marine-life research center and help protect the oceans from those who would do them harm. The plot strains credulity. Someone is finning sharks (cutting off the fins, then tossing the sharks back into the ocean) for the black market and looking for a sunken treasure near the Bahamas. When a group of older teens go on a fact-finding mission and are caught, it somehow falls to the newest and youngest recruits to help save them. But each character-from the adults running the research center, to the teen protagonists, to the villain-are stereotypes without depth. The author incorporate facts about sea life, but they often interfere with the narrative flow. The sharks near the Bahamas have distinct Bahamian accents and speech patterns. Most tweens will find this title lacking.-Marie Drucker, Malverne Public Library, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Grades 5-8 Clumsy 12-year-old Tristan Hunt, the champion of stumbles, falls into a shark enclosure at a water park and begins to learn that he is more gifted underwater than on land. With a newfound interest in all things marine, he is invited to a special summer camp full of kids very much like him, such as new friend Sam and roommate Hugh. While learning about the sea and their special powers in the water, Tristan, Hugh, and Sam get involved in an exciting mission to the Bahamas to save ailing sea creatures. There's just enough magic and adventure woven into the sea-life facts to make this story fun and compulsively readable, which is by design, it seems, since Prager is a marine scientist first and foremost. There are definitely comparisons to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson to be made, since Tristan is similarly easy to root for. With relatively low drama and a fun and fantastical marine atmosphere, this is a perfect beach read for middle readers who want more realism with their adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)