The Line Tender
Publisher
Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication Year
2019
ISBN
9780735231603
Pages
384 pages
Genre
realism
Format
novel
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart's marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then Lucy and her father have kept their heads above water—thanks in large part to a few close friends and neighbors. But June of her twelfth summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to sleepy Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a great white—and then another tragedy, cutting short a friendship everyone insists was "meaningful" but no one can tell Lucy what it all meant. To survive the fresh wave of grief, Lucy must grab the line that connects her depressed father, a stubborn fisherman, and a curious old widower to her mother's unfinished research on the Great White's return to Cape Cod. If Lucy can find a way to help this unlikely quartet follow the sharks her mother loved, she'll finally be able to look beyond what she's lost and toward what's left to be discovered.
Grade Level
3-5; 6-8
Lexile Measure
710L
Diversity Topics
Family Relationships; Family member death; death of a parent
Main Character
female teenager
Race/Ethnicities
Undetermined
Awards
Cybils Awards, 2019, Nominee, Middle Grade Fiction
Minnesota Book Awards, 2020, Winner, Middle Grade Literature
New England Book Award, 2019, Finalist, Children's Book
Keywords
sharks; great white shark; ocean; science; sea; beach; Massachusetts; Cape Cod; friendship; hardship; loss; grief; sad; death
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Allen, Kate, "The Line Tender" (2019). Diverse Families. 2261.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/2261