The Missing Manatee[ THE MISSING MANATEE ] by DeFelice, Cynthia C. (Author) Apr-08-05[ Hardcover ]

by Cynthia C. DeFelice

Excellent Book

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Divorce

Hardcover

First published April 8, 2005

About the author

Cynthia DeFelice is the author of many bestselling titles for young readers, including the novels Wild Life, The Ghost of Cutler Creek, Signal, and The Missing Manatee, as well as the picture books, One Potato, Two Potato, and Casey in the Bath. Her books have been nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children's Books and Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, among numerous other honors.

Cynthia was born in Philadelphia in 1951. As a child, she was always reading. Summer vacations began with a trip to the bookstore, where she and her sister and brothers were allowed to pick out books for their summer reading. “To me,” she says, “those trips to the bookstore were even better than the rare occasions when we were given a quarter and turned loose at the penny-candy store on the boardwalk.” Cynthia has worked as a bookseller, a barn painter, a storyteller, and a school librarian.

When asked what she loves best about being an author, she can’t pick just one answer: “I love the feeling of being caught up in the lives of the characters I am writing about. I enjoy the challenge of trying to write as honestly as I can, and I find enormous satisfaction in hearing from readers that something I wrote touched them, delighted them, made them shiver with fear or shake with laughter, or think about something new.” Cynthia and her husband live in Geneva, New York.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/cynthi...

Reviews

[Anthony Martini]

Skeet Waters is exploring the ocean inlets around his home in Florida when he discovers a dead manatee with what appears to be a bullet hole in its head. Knowing that manatees are an endangered species protected by law, Skeet is shocked by his discovery. He can't imagine who would shoot a manatee, and he resolves to bring the killer to justice. Skeet reports the crime to the sheriff's office, but when he returns to the place where he found the manatee, the body is missing. That same week, Skeet is thrilled to have the opportunity to go tarpon fishing with a renowned fisherman known as Dirty Dan. Through the experiences of that day he begins to see his former hero in a whole new light. When Skeet discovers several clues that point toward Dirty Dan as the manatee's killer, he confronts Dirty Dan. Through this confrontation, Skeet learns that the manatee's killer is actually Dan's mentally handicapped son, Blink. Skeet's experiences help him learn to be more understanding and less quick to judge the people around him. I think that this book is really cool because it kind of like a mystery book because he is trying to find out who killed the manatee so i recommend you read this book, i rate this book 4 out of 5 because it is really fun to read to read this book, the theme of the book is to never give because he never gave up to find the manatee

[Gilbert Rice]

The book The Missing Manatee is a really good book that i recommend you read. It was a cool afternoon when Skeet jameson goes onto the shore of the beach and discovers a dead manatee shot in the head. Skeet goes for help, but when he comes back with an officer, the manatee is gone!
One of the central conflicts is when Skeet is trying to find who is the murderous manatee killer.
One of the central themes is to never give up. Skeet keeps and keeps and keeps, AND keeps trying to find the killer.
For good or bad i think the book was good. It has good and appropriate situations and the vocabulary is good.
I would recommend this to pretty much everybody. I would recommend this to the ages of 9 and up.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this books because I LOVE manatees. It is very sad because it involves a mystery surrounding a manatee that was shot (not a spoiler since it's on like page 3). However considering the audience is meant to be older kids, like late elementary or middle school age, I think this is an excellent book as it investigates the complexity of humanity in an understandable way for kids.

P.S. SAVE THE MANATEES

[Abigayle Gurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really love this book, I feel like the plot never moved and always stayed in one spot. I feel like there was not enough feeling and emotion. It had kind of random stuff in their totality of the subject.
SPOILER
the whole time the book was just about finding a dead manatee.

The characters names are really weird too, some names were dirty Dan, skeet, and blink.
I honestly did not like this book and would not recommend it to anyone.

[Rebekah Haas]

A boy must take matters into his own hands when he finds a dead manatee (with a bullet hole in it's head). Killing a manatee is against the law, but there wasn't enough evidence to find the killer. Take that and a mountain of other things, and Skeet Water's summer will never be the same.

"I don't know how your mama eats that hamster food she calls cereal every morning."

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty good it was about a boy who lives in Florida who loves to go on his boat a lot. One day he found a dead manatee and where he lived it was illegal to kill manatee, so throughout the book he was trying to find out who killed the manatee.

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It's a short read but it's an interesting story about how a boy accidentally killed a rare manatee and how his friend is trying to find out who killed the manatee. I would read this book if you just want a quick, fun, and interesting read.

[Natosha Doerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Missing Manatee is a great book for kids because it explores many hardships that they may encounter themselves. I teach in Florida which is where the book is based and it talks about many things they are familiar with as well.

[Sunday Hollis · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful story! Ms. DeFelice does a great job capturing the struggles of growing up, and her stories are very relatable. Everyone remembers when they learned about what is morally right, opposed to what is legal. Good book for any age, any gender.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book because it has a manatee on the cover and on the title. But the story is more about tarpon fishing and functional alcoholics. Though it does have good lessons on handling divorce and the moral gray area surrounding breaking federal law. Plus it has a manatee; so 5 stars.

[Diana S · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ★★★

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that it was kind of cool to cambin animals to a mystery book.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first bought it, I thought the main character had befriended a manatee and started some adventure together but it's not haha but well, this is awesome book and I love it.

[Susan Bryson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent story. If you like manatees, amazing story.

[Charlie Vaden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read young teen read! Definitely kept me on my toes. Lots of twists and turns to who the actual manatee killer was!

[winter]

i read this book when i was in the 3rd grade, & i loved it. i want to reread it again so bad😭

[Elizabeth Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun 4th grade read! An excellent mystery with some fun while also teaching some important real world lessons.

[Andrea Zuis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow in the middle but has a great ending!

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Missing Manatee is a very good book. I would recommend it to anyone. Its about a boy who is out driving around in his boat and finds a dead manatee floating in the water. The boy is named Skeet. He lives someplace in Florida.

While Skeet was out riding in his boat he found a dead manatee. The manatees are endangered, so if they found who killed the manatee, that person would have to pay a big fine. Skeet went to find the Sheriff (Earl). When they got back to the place where Skeet found the manatee, it was gone. Skeet found some evidence that lead them to believe that someone towed the manatee away.

Skeet and Earl went and filed a report about the manatee. Earl said that the manatee would be a very low priority because there was no real evidence that the manatee was ever there.

Through a course of several days, Skeet went out to look for the manatee. One day he found the manatee and also found that the rope that was used to tow the manatee was the same rope that he had seen in Dirty Dan's boat.

When he went and told his grandma about the manatee, she said that he should go talk to Dirty Dan before he told Earl about it. Skeet agreed that that was a good idea. When he went to talk to Dirty Dan, Dirty Dan said that Skeet should just settle down and think about it.

When he went to look for the manatee the next day, he found it in the same spot as the day before. When he heard a boat coming, he knew that it was Dirty Dan. When dirty Dan got there he told how the manatee died. He had let his son shoot at some tennis balls in the water. It was early in the morning and there was nobody around. He had taught him how to hold and fire the gun. He had also shown him where the safety was and everything else about the gun. When he was shooting a tennis ball, a manatee came up and he accidentally shot it. Skeet finally understood why Dirty Dan hadn't reported the manatee.

[Serenah Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

How did you pick this book? I honestly picked this book, because I thought it looked easy to read, and a lot of my friends have read the book so I assumed it must be good to read if a lot of my friends have read it.
Setting- This book was setted in a rural community, by the ocean where everyone knows everyone inside and out. Or so it seems..
Characterization
-The character is static, because he stays the same throughout the entire book.
-Three character traits to describe the main character- He is determined, smart, and a young child.
-Choose one quote from the story to to prove your point- I can't find a quote, but in the book when he found the manatee he was in such of a disgust that he wanted to find who would do such a thing to an innocent animal, and by the end of the book he found out it was Dirty Dan's mentally handicapped son who shot the manatee.
Theme- The theme is you shouldn't be so quick to judge others if you have no idea what happened.
3 strategies I used while reading this book- I used visualize as one of them, because it kept me interested in the book, and the book is very descriptive so you really need to use visualization.
I also used prior knowledge. I knew that Dirty Dan was kind of suspicious, so it helped me assume that he was guilty of the crime.
I used prediction when I predicted that Dirty Dan did the crime, but his mentally handicapped son did it.
I thought the book was a good book! I would recommend the book to others, because I thought it was a good book and maybe they will too.

[Paige W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Skeeter Waters wonders out into the Gulf of Mexico and finds a dead manatee. He did everything to find out who killed the manatee.

Main Character: The main character in the book is Skeeter Waters. He lives in Florida. He parents are getting a divorce. His favorite thing to do during the summer is go fishing with his dad. He always wanted to catch his own tarpon on a fly.
Dirty Dan: Dirty Dan is a friend to Skeeter's dad. They call him "Dirty Dan the Tarpon Man" because he is the best tarpon on a fly catcher in the town. He is the father of Blink.
Setting of the book: The setting takes place in Florida.

Conflict: The conflict is that somebody killed a harmless manatee. Skeeter is trying to find out who killed the manatee.

Resolution of conflict: The resolution of conflict is, Dirty Dan took his child out fishing and his son, Blink, wanted to shoot a gun. So his father said that he would throw 3 tennis balls in the water so he could shoot them. Blink shot 1, then 2, then a manatee stuck his head out of the water and BOOM the manatee got shot by accident.
Main idea: The main idea of this book is somebody killed a manatee and Skeeter Waters is trying to find out who killed the manatee.

Opinion of book: My o;pinion of the book is that this book was fantastic because this book was perfect for me. I also liked this book because I love mammals.

[Macy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students really enjoyed this book and the plot twist. We started reading it for Manatee Awareness Month because manatees are our favorite!! There were good conversations had from the different topics/themes throughout the book.

[Andres Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a mystery type of book. I chose the book because I read the title and it seemed interesting so I bought it. The main character is Skeet Waters. On his spring break he goes on his boat and finds a dead manatee in the water with a bullet wound in the head. He reports it to the sheriff and when he comes back to where the dead manatee was it is not there no more. He is determined to find out who was the killer of the manatee. One day His Friend Dirty Dan took him out tarpon fishing. He sees a lot of things that day that could lead him to find the killer of the manatee. It is a man vs. man central conflict. The theme of this book is that some things happen in life that had to go they way they went. The writing style of her is suspenseful and you don't want to put the book down you want to read more and more to find out more about the mystery. I would recommend this book to people that like mystery stories or if you never read a mystery you should read this one and you will like them.

[Bailey Volek · Rating 1 out of 5]

"what words would you use to discribe this book?"
I think this book deserves a 10 out of 10! Its a really good book and I sugjest you should read it! Its about manatees and a boy. One afternoon the manatees all of a sudden dissappeared. Then about a week later the boy went back and kept seeing a big splash, all of the other fishermen kept seeing it too. Finally one day the boy went out on a boat and got goggles and went swimming and found out that the big splashing was a huge manatee! After the fishermen found out they all tried to kill it! The fishermen got caught and they all faced the consequences and went to jail. Hope you read it!

"What did you like about the book?" "why?"
What I liked most about this book was the manatees. I love animals! I have 3 dogs and 1turtle. Sometimes my brothers and sister act like animals! Everywhere around me there is animals, my neighbors, my family, my friends, and more! I really hope you read this book!

[Paige.s · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was inspiring to me because to save animals of the sea. This book was about a boy who finds a dead manatee with a bullet hole in the top of its head. He wants to find who has killed this manatee. He then gets to fish with a the greatest fisherman at his town. Then the boy catches his first fish and he is proud that he got help from a great fisherman. He then finds that someone is trying to hide the dead manatee and tries to find it. He then gets curious when he finds a gun in the great fisherman's boat. He suspects nothing at first but when he sees his mentor go into a lost river he follows him and finds out that he is the one who has killed the manatee and has tried to hide it so no one would know. You are going to have to read the book to find out what happens to the great fisherman.

[Alyssa Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a boy who found a manatee that was shot in the neck. He was so sad about it that he wanted to find the person who killed the manatee. There are two people, his older sister and his father's friend that are helping him to find the manatee shooter. This is a very interesting but also sad story because a manatee was killed. I would recommend this book because I could not stop reading it to find out who shot the manatee. I also liked it because the book's setting is in Florida and that is where I live. I learned from this book that when you want to find things out that it is better to have a group of people that helps you than just to do it by yourself.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy nicknamed Skeet who one day finds a dead manatee. He then starts trying to find out who killed it. Eventually in the book he goes tarpon fishing with someone named Dirty Dan. Dirty Dan has a son named Blink, who has a disability. Later on Skeet finds the dead manatee again with blue rope around its neck. This leads him to believe that Dirty Dan committed the crime, because Dirty Dan has identical blue rope on his boat. He then learns from Dirty Dan that Blink accidentally shot the manatee when Dirty Dan let him try out his gun. The police allows them to not go to jail, because he feels bad about the whole thing.

[Reno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very fun book that I think people who like mysteries would like reading. The main character's name is Skeet Waters. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mom, however his father is a tarpon fisher and Skeet wants to be like him. He went of on his own, he saw a dead manatee!! He had a fear that someone was looking at him, so he went to call the police. When he went with the police, the dead body was gone...
The missing Manatee

This is a book that I read in fourth grade and I thought was really good so I asked my parents if they could buy it. It is also in the library so you have a chance to read it!!!!

[Tracie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While out on his boat one day, Skeet discovers a manatee that has been shot - so recently it is still bleeding. When he returns with the local deputy, the manatee is gone. With no evidence, the sheriff's office doesn't make the manatee killing a priority, but Skeet can't get it off his mind. Skeet eventually finds out who killed the manatee but this knowledge brings with it another set of problems. Plenty of fishing action and information along with a moral delimna combine to make this an interesting choice. Especially recommended for reluctant male readers.