Catherine Hapka

From the author of Heart of a Dolphin and Dolphin Dreams comes the story of another special friendship!

Dolphin Summer

Story Eater

**3.5 stars**

Like a few other books this year, I purchased Dolphin Summer from the local school book fair and set to reading it to preempt its release. I found a nice little educational read for 3rd-4th graders that encourages inquisitiveness, rocks some STEM jargon, and promotes a love of learning in young people when "smart" still, in some places, is not cool (yeah, that still goes on).

Dolphin Summer boasts the familiar theme of the lonely kid that finds a stray dolphin and bonds with it to make an interesting bildungsroman of encouragement for those kids who, like the MC, have a hard time fitting in with the main group of kids in their community/school/neighborhood. Lily, the amateur dolphin whisperer in this book, notices the dolphin in a murky canal and can't seem to stay away from her. Somehow, Lily manages, with the help of a well-connected friend, to wiggle her way into the aquarium to be close to her new mammalian friend and she meets a few other friends with similar interests along the way. 

With a nice, feel-good, tidy ending, and a plot that minimizes drama and focuses on the growth of an individual in a positive way, I'm glad to have a book for young readers that I don't have to worry about when I give it to a reader.

Some not-so-positive parts with maybe some spoilery stuff:

*This book says on the back that it is a 5th grade reading level. I'd say it's a 3rd grade reading level with 5th grade points of interest. It's too easy to read, the plot is too simplistic, and the scientifically-oriented concepts in it are pretty rudimentary. Throw in an additional meaningful subplot and I'd say maybe to the prescribed reading level.
*Lily disobeys her babysitter and sneaks out of the flat to go down to the canal and watch the dolphin. When her babysitter finally catches up with her part of an hour later, instead of Lily getting into trouble, she is praised for her rebelling "against authority for something she believe[s] in." Lily is not protesting injustice. She is out in public, in Brooklyn, without an adult to watch out for her. 
*The book takes a stab at "privilege" by saying that it is "unfair" that one of the biologist's sons gets an internship in the lab "just because his dad works there." It could be said that it is unfair that Lily gets to go in the lab section of the aquarium "just because she knows someone that knows everyone in Brooklyn and has super special connections." Or, it's unfair that Lily's pipes get fixed for free just because her dad is a plumber.

Dolphin Summer

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