Manatee Blues (Wild at Heart) [Turtleback]

Laurie Halse Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002 | Series: Wild at Heart

Brenna, Maggie, and Zoe go to Florida to visit a manatee rescue center, where they learn about these endangered marine mammals.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606204555
• ISBN-13: 978-0606204552
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,772,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurie Halse (rhymes with "waltz") Anderson pretended she was a polar bear when she walked to school through the snow of Syracuse, New York. As a little girl, she would pound away at her father's old typewriter for hours, writing newspaper columns, stories, and letters. She loved watching her father write poetry and reading the funnies on the floor of his office. Laurie fell in love with words when her second-grade teacher taught her how to write haiku. Her favorite book is the dictionary, which is a good thing because she is a terrible speller. She tried to read every book in her school library, a heavenly place. She loves librarians! One of her favorite books was Heidi. This led to curiosity about foreign cultures. As a senior in high school, she was an American Field Service exchange student to Denmark, where she lived on a pig farm. She skipped both her prom and graduation ceremonies and had a great time there. She can still speak Danish.

Laurie Halse Anderson never intended to be an author. At Georgetown University, she majored in foreign languages and linguistics. She hit the real world with no idea of what kind of work she wanted to do. She tried everything, including cleaning banks, milking cows and working as a stockbroker. She hated all of it. Working as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer was a slight improvement, but she eventually quit to write books. After eight long, rejection-filled years, she has finally qualified as an overnight success.

Laurie's books for children and teenagers have attracted a lot of attention. Her first novel, Speak, was a National Book Award Finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor book, a New York Times bestseller, and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Publisher's Weekly, called Speak "a stunning first novel," in which Ms. Anderson "uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager." Speak has been translated into sixteen foreign languages, including Chinese and Catalan. In 2005, the movie version was released. In addition to novels, Laurie writes chapter books for elementary age children and picture books for the pre-school set. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, given by the American Library Association for significant and lasting achievement in young adult literature, in 2009.

Laurie lives in Northern New York with her husband, Scot, and their dog, Kezzie. Scot designed and built a writing cottage for Laurie, where she writes daily. Along with writing, she enjoys gardening, running and hanging with her family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish they had these books out when I was younger!, November 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Manatee Blues (Wild at Heart) (Paperback)

What a wonderful book! And what a enjoyable book to read with your child! I feel so lucky that my 7 year old daughter and I found these books to read together. It is such a pleasure to be able to read a book to her that is both interesting and engrossing to my child and to myself as well. This is a book that I read a chapter to her, and then she reads a chapter to me, and I remain interested and intrigued. My daughter is an animal lover and wants to be a vet when she grows up. This book, and other books in the Wild at Heart series show not only what a vet does, but also how a child can pitch in and make a real difference.

This particular book is about manatees and how the environment and the boats in Florida are causing them to be an endangered species. It is written from the perspective of Brenna and relates her feelings about saving the manatees. This book is also educates the reader about manatees, their anatomy, their care, and their problems. By the end of the book, I had a lump in my throat as I read the conclusion, it was so touching! If you are a young girl (or boy for that matter), read this book! If you are a parent, read it with your child! I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as my daughter and I did.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trouble Down Under!, August 7, 2001

By 

An 11-year old reader (Crystal Lake, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manatee Blues (Wild at Heart) (Paperback)

Manatee Blues is an awesome book! It is my favorite so far from the Wild at Heart Series! It takes place from a marine animal lover who volunteers at Wild at Heart Animal Clinic! Her mane in Brenna! A few people from Wild at Heart Animal Clinic take a vacation to Miami Florida to visit one of Dr. Mac's friend who is a marine bioligist! Dr. Mac owns Wild at Heart! The Marine Biology Center watches marine animals like manatees if they get hurt! They feed and keep the manatees until they are better! Brenna really wants to help the endangered manatees and finds herself in deep trouble when she jumps off a boat to help a hurt manatee! The Marine Biology Center has to close down because it doesn't have enough money to pay for food and equiptment! Brenna is going to do all she can do to stop it from closing down without getting in any more trouble than she is already! Find out if Brenna can save the Marine Biology Center by reading Manatee Blues!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!!!, April 7, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Manatee Blues (Wild at Heart) (Paperback)

This book is very intriguing, I couldn't put it down! Brenna and two other friends (Zoe and Maggie) went to Florda to study manatees. When they get there they meet a marine biologist who works at a rescue center for manatees and other animals. This place needs ALOT of money to stay open. When Brenna takes a picture of a famous baseball player driving his boat too fast where manatees may be, and then shows it to him after his baseball game... Did she just save the rescue center? I suggest this book to anyone who likes water animals, and alot of adventure.