Stranded - Hardcover

Ben Mikaelsen is the award-winning author of many books for children, including Petey, Countdown, Rescue Josh McGuire, Stranded, and Sparrow Hawk Red. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.

Grade 5-7?Self-conscious about her appearance and her abilities ever since she lost her foot in an accident four years ago, 12-year-old Koby feels most at home on the water. Not only does she love living on her family's sailboat, but she revels in her time alone aboard a dinghy that she navigates through the Florida Keys. When she discovers a wounded pilot whale and helps it deliver a calf, then later rescues the animals when they're beached, the independence and attention generated by these incidents give her an improved self-image as well as new, admiring friends. Her parents' separation and a hurricane that threatens her father's livelihood as well as the whales' lives are other obstacles that must be overcome. Mikaelsen's writing is strongest when describing rich scenes of the seascape and wildlife behavior. The characters, however, seem to be of a type (gruff sailor; bouncy, popular classmate, etc.), fulfilling a purpose in the story but never coming alive, conveying humor that is forced and often speaking in a moralizing or patronizing tone. Although the theme of rehabilitation is evident, with the exception of the rescue there is a lack of tension and a juggling of plots that lead to a predictable, and at times sentimental, story.?Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library, WI
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