by Karen Hesse
The Music of Dolphins, by Karen Hesse, is a good book. It is so detailed you can imagine everything that happens. It is also very interesting and keeps you wondering what is going to happen next. The book is about a very rare girl who was raised by dolphins. People find her and try to rescue her, but are they really rescueing her?
In the book, Mila is living happily with dolphins. Researchers find her, but when they throw a rescue package to her, she runs away. Eventually they get Mila into their helicopter. She is taken to a place where she tries to learn to speak, read, and write. Most children raised in the wild don't learn to do many human things, will Mila? Will Mila like being a regular human?
I like this book because it hooks you into the story. I had trouble putting it down, because it was so good. It makes you wonder what's going to happen next. Will Mila learn to interact with people? Will she still want to live with dolphins? Mila is an interesting main character because she is going through so many changes and discovering so many new things.
This book's theme is can people live their lives differently and is it acceptable? Mila learns a lot about being a regular human, but she longs to go home to the dolphins. The government and scientists don't want her to go back to the sea. The government thinks it knows what is best for her and researchers want to study her. Everyone thinks they have rescued Mila, but really her life was better before she was found. Her life was different, but it was good.
Reviewed by Ashley 9/02