Plot Summary: Mila is an adolescent girl discovered off the coast of Florida living with a pack of dolphins. She is rescued and brought to be studied in a government facility. The story is told in the first person in Mila's halting English and outlines her feelings about rejoining the human world and the attempts of the doctors to make her more human than dolphin. Mila forms relationships with the people who are a part of her new life, including another feral child who is a victim of extreme abuse and neglect. Although her new relationships are mostly positive, her need to return to the sea and her dolphin family is so extreme that she is unable to assimilate into her new surroundings. The shifts in Mila's feelings and in her progress are effectively show in the change in text size and in the language used. Through this the reader is able to track her progress forward and then her decline as her desire to return to the sea become more intense and all consuming.
Critical Evaluation: This story will resonate with people of all ages, especially those who have ever felt that they haven't belonged or were unhappy with their life. The way the story is written in the first person makes it very easy for the reader to empathize with Mila and what she is going through. The story is very convincing and really delves into what makes us human and what makes us a part of the work around us. The language used in the story is somewhat unusual but suites Mila's character perfectly and really evokes her previous life and the sea.
Reader's Annotation: Mila is a young girl who is rescued after spending years being raised by dolphins. She struggles to successfully become a part of the human world but is unable to forget her dolphin family and her home.
Author Information: Karen Hesse is the other of several other books such as Just Juice, Letters from Rifka, and Out of the Dust, for which she won the 1998 Newberry Award.
Genre: Fiction, Coming of age
Curriculum Ties: English/Language development/Psychology
Booktalking Ideas: How would it feel to be raised by animals?Focus on relationships between Mila and the dolphins.
Reading Level: 9-14
Challenges: None. If any, could be encouraged to research reviews of the work or research on feral children.
Selection Process: Recommend by a friend
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