Mary Manatee: A Tale of Sea Cows

by Suzanne Tate

A tender story about a mother manatee and her calf. Sponsored by the Pier Aquarium, St. Petersburg, FL. Illustrated by James Melvin.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Animals

28 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jadance Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic story! I’m glad the humans were nice and let the manatees through! I was about to be sad halfway through and was having flashbacks to Black Fish, the movie, but these were the good humans not the bad ones. Love manatees and the amazing quick read!

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
This was not overly engaging to my 4 or 6.5yo boys. The whole style seemed dated (pacing, storytelling, and illustrations).

[Rivkah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this little Manatee book, it's rather cute.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got this several years ago while on vacation in Florida. Great story of the manatee!

[Calla Parks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts out as talking about the physical build of manatees. Talks about their tails, weight, nostrils, and the talks about the calf’s. Though-out the book it speaks of how Mikey listens to his mom! Until he couldn’t!!

I personally don’t really think that this book was amazing, I liked the message and that its animals which is less scary for kids. But the pictures seem repetitive which can make children not be as engaged.

This book teaches the importance of standing by your parents, even when you don’t know what could happen!! You could use this book to talk about safety in the school and play ground!