The Shark Whisperer

Gr 5–8—The Sea Guardians are human teens with special abilities in the water. Tristan Hunt is a klutz on land—a fact that readers are never allowed to forget—but a natural in the sea. He's a fast swimmer and he can communicate with sharks. The latter trait has brought him to the attention of a group of adults who, with government funding, run a marine-life research center and help protect the oceans from those who would do them harm. The plot strains credulity. Someone is finning sharks (cutting off the fins, then tossing the sharks back into the ocean) for the black market and looking for a sunken treasure near the Bahamas. When a group of older teens go on a fact-finding mission and are caught, it somehow falls to the newest and youngest recruits to help save them. But each character—from the adults running the research center, to the teen protagonists, to the villain—are stereotypes without depth. The author incorporate facts about sea life, but they often interfere with the narrative flow. The sharks near the Bahamas have distinct Bahamian accents and speech patterns. Most tweens will find this title lacking.—Marie Drucker, Malverne Public Library, NY