The Music of Dolphins

by Karen Hesse

Overview

They call her Mila, from the Spanish word for "miracle." Lost after a plane crash when she was small, Mila has been cared for ever since by dolphins. When she is eventually spotted on an unpopulated island off Cuba, she is an adolescent and seems hardly human to her rescuers. Mila is taken to a child study center in Boston. Eager to please, she makes rapid progress in language and social skills. With her recorder, Mila finds she can even make music like the dolphin songs she yearningly remembers. But the more Mila discovers about what it means to be human—the locked doors, the rules, the betrayals—the more she longs for her watery home and gentle dolphin family. In an emotionally wracking conclusion, she returns to the world where her ears never want for song. Where, although she cannot stand on her tail or jump the waves, she is part of the music of dolphins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780590897983
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/1998
Series:	Apple Classics
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	393,486
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.47(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Karen Hesse is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of many books for children. Her titles include Witness, The Cats in Krasinski Square, and the Newbery Medal winner Out of the Dust, among many others. She lives in Vermont with her husband and two teenaged daughters.

Editorial Reviews

"Mila's rich inner voice makes her a lovely, lyrical character." - Voice of Youth Advocates

From the Publisher

"As moving as a sonnet, as eloquently structured as a bell curve," said PW in a starred review of this first-person novel by the Newbery Medalist about a girl who is raised by dolphins and studied by scientists. Ages 9-12. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-8-This audio version of the book by Karen Hesse (Scholastic, 1969) is spellbinding. Mila has been raised by dolphins. When the Coast Guard discovers her, she is taken to a research facility and has to adjust to living with humans. She slowly acquires language and develops a love for music. Her love for music gives her insight into the human world yet allows her to remain connected to her dolphin world. Mila is very observant of her human caretakers and asks thought-provoking questions as to why humans behave as we do. The narration by Michele McHall and the original musical score enhance the story. McHall portrays the young Mila with a youthful voice; as Mila matures so does her voice. The musical score evokes the sounds of the sea and the dolphins. Mila will linger in the minds of listeners even when the tape is over. This extraordinary tale will enchant listeners and be popular in middle school and public libraries.-Ginny Harrell, William McGarrah Elementary School, Morrow, GA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Her mind and spirit shaped by the dolphins who raised her, a feral child views herself and her human captors from a decidedly unusual angle in this poignant story from the author of A Time of Angels (1995).

The rescuers who find her on a key off the coast of Cuba dub her Mila—Spanish for "miracle"—for although she weighs barely 100 pounds and bears sucker and barnacle scars, she is healthy and alert, human in form but with strange gestures, sounds, and behavior she learned from the dolphins with whom she has lived for at least 10 years. Taken to a research facility, Mila launches into her new life with enthusiasm, spurred by the hope that she will soon be returned to her marine family. She excels at her studies and displays a genius for music. As someone whose inner resilience has allowed her to develop a dual nature, Mila is utterly convincing; in a highly individual voice, she describes her old and new lives—e.g., "the sea is a big home where all the time is swimming and all the time is singing and all the time is touching in the big wet." Changes in type size and style signal Mila's inner shifts as she turns toward humanity, then away, finding in the dolphins a wiser, more comfortable society. A probing look at what makes us human, with an unforgettable protagonist.

Kirkus Reviews