A DOLPHIN NAMED STAR

Friends investigate mysteriously ill
dolphins at an animal sanctuary in Charleston, South Carolina.

Everyone at the Seaside Sanctuary
Marine Wildlife Refuge is excited the day three dolphins arrive at the new sea pen,
a more natural and comfortable environment than a tank. But Delilah Germaine, a
board member of a local wildlife charity that helps fund the sanctuary, is
acting funny. Joy turns to fear when the dolphins start to sicken and decline. The
sanctuary’s marine biologists’ daughter, Elsa Roth, and vet’s sister, Olivia, put
together what clues they have—a strange smell, Delilah’s job at a nearby chemical
manufacturing plant—to come to dark conclusions. The adults dismiss their
hypothesis, as the water doesn’t test as dangerously polluted, but a quick
internet search leads the girls to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a chemical
manufacturing byproduct that causes the dolphins’ exact symptoms but evaporates
quickly, making it hard to detect if not caught immediately. They anger Elsa’s
mother when they point the finger at the chemical plant, an important donor, and
so must investigate on their own to prove wrongdoing. Descriptions of the
dolphins’ suffering and outcomes may stress tender-hearted readers, but they
add necessary stakes and realism. Less realistic is the credulity of the
adults, but it does help drive the plot. The book adheres to the white default.
Companion titles The Disappearing Otters,
Oil-Soaked Wings, and Orca in Open Water publish
simultaneously.

The theme of courageous kids
standing up to power will appeal despite contrivances. (glossary, discussion
questions, dolphin facts, link to internet resources) (Fiction. 8-12)