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MANATEE BLUES: Brenna
Wild at Heart, No. 4
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Pleasant Company
ISBN: 1584850493
Ages 8-10
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This is the fourth book in the WILD AT HEART series about young vet
volunteers. You've read about Maggie, Sunita, and David. This book
is about Brenna, and manatees. Manatees are large marine mammals.
They look something like floating elephants. They're related to elephants,
too, as well as to aardvarks and hyraxes. Did you know that? Brenna
did. She loves manatees. She did a school project on them and got
an A+. Now she gets to travel by airplane to Florida with Dr. Mac
and her two granddaughters, Maggie and Zoe, to work in a rescue mission
for manatees. And she is jazzed! She takes along her camera with its
zoom lens, and she can't wait to meet Dr. Mac's former pupil, Gretchen,
who runs the rescue mission. Of course, her mother's parting words,
"Be polite, watch your temper, and think before you open your mouth,"
get Brenna into trouble --- when she forgets them!
They no sooner arrive at the mission than Gretchen and her assistant
Carlos get a phone call about a wounded manatee that needs help. Brenna
wants to go along, and she makes Dr. Mac mad by asking Gretchen to
let them. But Gretchen says it's okay. When they find the manatee,
they discover that it's Violet, an old friend of Gretchen and Carlos.
She's been struck by a boat. The propeller ripped into her back, broke
her ribs, and punctured a lung. She's been floating, helpless and
in pain, for weeks. Gretchen and Carlos don't know whether they can
save her or not. When they get her back to the mission, Gretchen lets
Dr. Mac and the girls watch the surgery.
While Violet is recuperating from the first surgery, Gretchen takes
Dr. Mac and the girls on a floating restaurant cruise to the Gulf
of Mexico. Is that neat or what? While Brenna tries to figure out
which fork to use (she has three), she notices an abandoned baby manatee
thrashing in the water. Gretchen uses Brenna's camera with its telephoto
lens to see that the baby is tangled in the rope of a crab pot. The
tide is coming in, and the baby will drown unless someone rescues
him. Gretchen puts on a life jacket and jumps overboard. Brenna thinks
she needs help and jumps in, too --- without a life jacket. Gretchen
isn't happy about that, and Dr. Mac is steamed about it.
They rescue the baby and take it to the mission. Carlos says Brenna
can name him. She names him Key Lime. That's her pie that was melting
while she helped Gretchen rescue him. Key Lime needs an adopted mother,
and he wants Violet to volunteer. But Violet is getting worse, so
Gretchen and Carlos have to operate on her again. But there is even
more terrible news than that. The mission is in debt. It needs hundreds
of thousands of dollars just to survive, and Gretchen's bank loan
is denied. Even if they can save Violet and Key Lime, they can't save
the mission. Or can they? I'll give you some clues: Brenna's camera
and a baseball game. Got it? Then you'd better read the book!
--- Reviewed by Tamara Penny
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