The Music of Dolphins [Hardcover]

Karen Hesse (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

After falling from a refugee craft at the age of four, Mila spends eight years as a wild child of the sea between Cuba and Florida, and when she is rescued, she must learn to communicate once again with humans.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As moving as a sonnet, as eloquently structured as a bell curve, this book poignantly explores the most profound of themes?what it means to be human. The narrator, Mila, is discovered by the Coast Guard on a deserted island, where she has been living with dolphins. The so-called feral child becomes the subject of government study?pried at and poked, taught language and music. Her amazing progress contrasts with that of another "wild child," Shay, who is being studied by the same team of experts. While Shay remains locked in silence, Mila's hands can fly over the computer keyboard or the holes of a recorder, and she even tries to explain dolphin language to the eager doctors who become her family. But Mila feels the call of the wild growing stronger and doubts about the sparkling lures of civilization growing louder. Finally the longing for her island consumes her entirely. It's a difficult plot to pull off, but Hesse (Letters from Rifka; Phoenix Rising) succeeds. While she insists on simplicity in framing the story, she also employs a high-wire writing technique, having Mila tell the story first in halting, little words (in big type), then in more complex, fluid words (in small type), so that the language and themes become increasingly sophisticated. All together, a frequently dazzling novel. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-After a plane crash off the coast of Cuba, a four-year-old survives, nurtured by dolphins. At adolescence, the girl is "rescued" by the Coast Guard and turned over to a scientist who has a government grant to study the part language acquisition plays in socialization. Mila, the otherworldly "dolphin girl," is enthusiastic to please, learning to speak words and write her thoughts on a computer, but gradually she understands that she is a prisoner "in the net of humans." She begins to lose ground, regressing physically, begging to be returned to the sea. Hesse's skill is in making readers believe in this wise, intuitive feral child. Mila's longing for the sea and her dolphin family is so achingly palpable that her return is equally believable. Her story is told in her own perfectly sustained voice: the clear and simple, but profound and poetic language of a "foreigner" with a keen mind and resonant spirit but limited vocabulary. Readers, engrossed, will follow the intriguing device of changing typeface that indicates Mila's evolution-flowing script, to chunky bold, to standard size, and back-reflecting changes within her character. Deceptively easy in format, this is a complex and demanding book. Evoking a Selkie myth, it is a reminder that the link between humankind and nature is mysterious and ignored at our peril. This powerful exploration of how we become human and how the soul endures is a song of beauty and sorrow, haunting and unforgettable.
Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 181 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; First Edition edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590897977
• ISBN-13: 978-0590897976
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,142,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Music of Dolphins, April 19, 2000

By 

Renee Howell (Clemson, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Music of Dolphins (Paperback)

In the poignant story The Music of Dolphins a young girl named Mila survives a plane crash and lives with dolphins for about nine years. Then the coast guard finds her and takes her to a facility for study. Although she enjoys experiencing life as a human, she cannot deny her longing to return to the sea and her dolphin family. Eventually, she must return.

In this book, Hesse uses the first person point of view as a tool to show Mila's degree of human socialization. At the beginning of the book, the sentences and chapters are short; there are no paragraphs. These characteristics illustrate Mila's limited ability to vocalize because she has not acquired the language skills necessary to organize her dolphin-like thoughts. As she learns English, Mila uses elementary, disjointed speech. In addition to using simplistic words to convey this message, Hesse uses font size to further illustrate her point. The large font size in the first part of the book symbolizes Mila's degree of socialization. Also in the first few chapters, Mila uses observations with few expressions of feelings. For example, she says, "I like good" (8); "I like Sandy happy" (9); "I like to see the picture of dolphin" (11). These examples also illustrate her rudimentary language skills.

As the book continues, the sentences get longer, and paragraphs begin to form. By Chapter 23, Mila speaks in paragraphs. This shows how much Mila has learned. Also it denotes that she has reached a level that is more socially acceptable. Hesse now decreases the font size to what one would consider average. She also employs more complex expressions of feelings and ideas to indicate Mila's increased knowledge and language. For example, she says, "I love to use my hands. To play games, to make music . . . I like every little thing I am learning with my fingers and my toes" (83).

The turning point of the story is Chapter 29. Until this point, Mila has been content to live in a house with Doctor Beck and the others and learn human things like, playing games, sleeping in a bed, and wearing clothes. In this chapter, Mila decides she no longer wants to be human. She would rather return to the sea and the dolphins. At first, she just tries to be good and follow the rules, hoping that one day they'll let her leave. In Chapter 36, Mila has a talk with Justin in which he tells her that no matter how good she is Dr. Beck will not release her. She realizes then that she doesn't have to let Dr. Beck control her and that she can stand up for herself. After this point, Mila begins her journey back to her former life. Hesse reverses the changes made in font size, sentence length, paragraph length, and word complexity. This reversal symbolizes Mila's reversal to dolphin life.

Hesse uses font size and other structural methods effectively. She has transformed these overlooked aspects of writing into tools that convey her intended message with clarity and skill. I have never read a book with this type of strategy, and I found it to be quite rewarding. It speaks in a way that plain words cannot.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sociological Literature for Young People, April 29, 2006

By 

Renaingr (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Music of Dolphins (Paperback)

I am writing this as a reply to the review entitled "OMG THIS BOOK WAS HORRIBLE."

This novel is not about it being a "true" story, which it isn't, but about the development of language and social communication and interaction.

An example case relative to Mila's predicament would be the case of Isabelle, who was discovered when she was 6 years old in a dark room, where her family kept her secluded from the world. She hadn't properly developed speech, nor did she have social experience.

The point is that as the book progresses, the author writes from Mila's perspective as she develops her language skills.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A popular book for girls in our school, July 25, 2001

By 

Volkert Volkersz (Snohomish, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Music of Dolphins (Hardcover)

"The Music of Dolphins" has been a fairly popular book with 5th and 6th grade girls in our elementary school library, so I decided to listen to the audio-book on cassette read by the actress Michele McHall.

Just as Karen Hesse starts the book with large print and simple language, McHall reads the first part of the book in a slow, halting and almost annoying high-pitched voice. My teenaged son--who normallly loves to listen to books on tape--was so annoyed by this, he quit listening within the first few chapters.

However, just as the font in the book gets smaller and the language gets smoother, McHall's version of Mila's voice becomes easier to listen to as Mila ajdusts to being removed from her dolphin family and living with scientists who teach her English and music, while they study her in hopes of learning dolphin language.

Both the book and the audio-book have an atmosphere that grows on you, and it's easy to get caught up in Mila's confusion, hopes, concern for another feral child, and stirrings of love. In the end, you're left to ponder the question of what it means to be a human. I think that's why this book is so deceptively simple, when it's really dealing with some pretty profound questions.

Although I'm troubled with Karen Hesse's conclusion that a girl raised by dolphins is more "human" than the humans who care for her and study her, it does force you to stop and think about what the good qualities in human beings should be like.

I think my son would agree that this is a "girl's book," but it's certainly one that deserves to be read, discussed and pondered.