The Missing Manatee

The Missing Manatee

Publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Publication Year

2005

ISBN

9780374312572

Pages

181 pages

Genre

realism

Format

novel

Item Type

Fiction

Annotation

All Skeet Waters wants is to catch a big, beautiful tarpon on his fly rod - and to keep everything else in his life in Florida the way it's always been. But on his spring break from school, Skeet overhears his mother telling his father to move out permanently. Then, while riding in his boat to escape his parents' troubles, he discovers a manatee that's been shot in the head. Skeet puts aside his search for the manatee and its killer when Dirty Dan the Tarpon Man offers to take him out to catch his first tarpon on a fly. Because of Dan, Skeet begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the manatee's apparent murder and his parents' dissolving marriage. Skeet discovers that life is a lot like tarpon fishing, in which you can't look just at the surface of the water - you have to look through it, at what lies beneath.

Grade Level

3-5; 6-8

Diversity Topics

Family Relationships; Separation; separated parents

Main Character

boy

Race/Ethnicities

White

Family Formation

separated parents

Awards

Booklist Top 10 Mystery/Suspense for Youth, 2006
Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006
100 Best Children's and YA Mysteries of the Past Decade, 2015
Edgar Allan Poe Awards, 2006, Nominee, Best Juvenile

Keywords

boating; manatees; fishing; Florida; police

Diversity Impact

direct

The Missing Manatee

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