Eighty feet below the ocean's surface, Wayne Grover hears a clicking sound. Soon he sees three dolphins--two adults and a baby--swimming toward him. A large fishing hook is embedded in the baby's back, and suddenly Wayne realizes that, in their own way, the dolphins are asking for his help.

Reviews

Gr 3-4-- In a first-person account, Grover describes a dramatic and emotional encounter with a wild dolphin family needing help off the Atlantic coast of Florida. Three dolphins, two adults and a baby, attract his attention with their clicking and then swim near him until he notices that the baby is bleeding from fishing line tangled around its tail and a hook embedded in its flesh. Grover performs underwater surgery with his diving knife, carefully cutting away the line and removing the hook, thus saving the dolphin from certain death. The baby dolphin's blood in the water attracts two hungry sharks that the large male dolphin dispatches by head-on attacks into the sharks' gills, thus saving the author's life. Two weeks later Grover recognizes the scar on the tail of a young dolphin swimming with a group of dolphins around his boat and experiences great joy at seeing his recovered patient. This a fascinating story, nicely illustrated with drawings in shades of gray, black, and white. It's unfortunate, though, that the author explains his feelings rather than allowing the powerful story to demonstrate them. --Frances E. Millhouser, Reston Regional Library, VA

"An animal lover's dream come true."--" ALA Booklist"