One White Dolphin

"Each night I have this dream. Each night the white dolphin waits for me." Gill Lewis (Wild Wings) writes about the dreamer, Kara Wood, a child struggling with loss who continues to love and care about her family and friends and the creatures that populate the sea.

When Kara's marine biologist mother failed to return from a mission a year earlier, Kara and her father had to move in with his loving but anxious sister. Classmate Jake Evans bullies Kara in school, just as his father, Dougie Evans, bullies the townsfolk. After she gives Jake a bloody nose and argues with her father, Kara flees for a cove she once visited with her mother. There she sees the white dolphin calf of her dreams, where "sometimes grey seals haul out on these rocks and lie basking in the sun." Kara believes it's a sign that her mother will return. When the calf beaches, Kara's quick action saves it. As she works to reunite the calf with its mother, readers will feel Kara has a personal stake in the outcome. Aparicio's often dramatic India ink and liquid pencil illustrations reinforce the twining of the fates of the dolphins and the villagers who make their living from the sea.

This life-affirming novel gets its depth from well-drawn, supportive characters such as Kara's father, her cousin Daisy, and Felix, a new boy who has cerebral palsy. But the satisfying climax and believable ending come about because of Kara's indomitable and generous spirit. --Ellen Loughran, reviewer

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