J. Rooker, Manatee - Softcover

Haley, Jan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1885904290 ISBN 13: 9781885904294

Publisher: Focus Pub, 2002

Synopsis

An all-time favorite book!

Based on a true story about a manatee who was rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild. Fantastic watercolor illustrations by artist Paul Brent. Each book autographed by author, Jan Haley.

About this title

About the Author:

Jan Haley's photographs have appeared in New Mexico newspapers and New Mexico Magazine. She lives in Hillsboro, New Mexico.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3?Stunningly illustrated in tropical shades, this book describes some shattering events in the otherwise placid life of a Florida manatee. After losing its mother in a storm, the calf is slashed on the back by a motorboat propeller and surely would have died without human intervention and rescue. Bright, double-page spreads draw viewers into the animal's watery habitat, but the text is too wordy and explicative, and about one quarter of the way into the story the tense shifts from past to present. The story line loses momentum because of too many interruptions to explain how the manatee feels, first about his carefree early life, then later when his "pain is almost unbearable," and "Yes, this is death, he is certain." Information about manatees is introduced throughout, but this blending of fact and fiction weakens both aspects of the tale, and much of the drama is lost. At one point, in order to explain the rescue operations, the point of view shifts to a human explanation of events in a further dilution of storytelling. Kathy and Tara Darling's Manatee (Lothrop, 1991) and Margaret Goff Clark's The Vanishing Manatee (Cobblehill, 1990) both do a better job of presenting the perils facing these endangered marine mammals.?Frances E. Millhouser, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Focus Pub
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1885904290
• ISBN 13: 9781885904294
• Binding: Paperback