Manatee Blues
Authors: Laurie Halse Anderson
Hello!
While visiting family in Florida, I once took a dinner cruise like the one Brenna and the gang take in this book. I was thrilled to see manatees slowly swimming in the warm Gulf waters below us. I was also happy to see boaters obeying the speed limits so their propellers wouldn’t injure the lovely manatees.
I talked to the captain and learned that not all boaters were as careful as the ones we saw that night. When I started to interview manatee veterinarians, I was horrified by the stories they told of the injuries manatees suffered from fast-moving boats, and the senseless deaths. I wanted to write a story that would explain this problem and bring more attention to the endangered species.
Creatures like manatees depend on you and me to keep them healthy and their habitats safe. This is something that Brenna Lake understands better than most. Her entire family rehabilitates injured wildlife and fights to make the world safer for all creatures.
I hope you can find a way to help, too!
Laurie Halse Anderson
HE
V
ET
V
OLUNTEER
B
OOKS
Fight for Life
Homeless
Trickster
Manatee Blues
Say Good-bye
Storm Rescue
M
ANATEE
B
LUES
LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON
PUFFIN BOOKS
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Doug Warmolts, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; David
M. Murphy, D.V.M., Lowry Park Zoo; Maya Dougherty, D.V.M., Miami
Seaquarium; Tom Pitchford, Florida Marine Research Institute; and
Nancy Sadusky, Save the Manatee.
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group,
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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by Pleasant Company Publications, 2000
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2007
5 6 7 8 9 10
Copyright © Laurie Halse Anderson, 2000, 2007
All rights reserved
CIP DATA IS AVAILABLE
ISBN: 978-1-101-56345-8
Printed in the United States of America
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
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The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any
responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
To April, Ryan, and Tiffany Stevens,
with lots of love from Aunt Laurie.
L
adies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please. We will be boarding U.S. Air flight 1072 to Tampa, Florida, in just a few minutes. Please have your boarding passes ready. Thank you.”
The woman behind the check-in desk turns off the microphone and smiles at me. “Only five more minutes,” she says. “Then you’re on your way.”
I’m going to Florida!
This is amazing. Me, Brenna Lake, who never goes anywhere, I’m about to get on an airplane and fly south. But that’s not all—I’m going to hang out with manatees!
I did a report about manatees last year for science class, and I fell in love with them. Manatees are marine mammals like dolphins, but they are endangered. Their habitat has been invaded by humans, and it is getting harder and harder for them to survive. They get hit by boats, eat trash that people dump in the water, and are harassed by people who don’t understand how wonderful they are. It’s a really sad situation.
I went nuts on the report. I drew a map of Florida that showed where manatees live, designed a poster of their life cycle, and made mom and baby manatees out of clay. My teacher gave me an A+. She said I should think about being a marine biologist when I grow up.
And now I’ll be able to see the real thing—a live manatee, gentle, sweet, and trusting—at the Gold Coast Rescue Center. My legs start to jiggle. I can feel a cartwheel coming on.
Keep cool, Brenna. Remain calm. OK, deep breath. Check out what everyone else is doing.
The whole gang from the Dr. Mac’s Place is here at the Philadelphia airport with me: Sunita Patel, David Hutchinson, Maggie MacKenzie, and Maggie’s cousin, Zoe Hopkins. The grown-ups—my parents and Dr. MacKenzie—are chatting by the window. A sleek silver plane waits outside.
The five of us volunteers are totally different, but we all love animals. Sunita, our cat expert, is smart, shy, and sweet. David, on the other hand, is loud and goofy. He really cares about horses and is an excellent rider. Maggie is great with all our patients, but dogs are her favorite. Zoe moved in with Maggie and Dr. MacKenzie—or “Dr. Mac,” as we call her—a few months ago. She’s still getting used to living around so many animals.
I grew up with animals. My parents are wildlife rehabilitators. People bring injured or sick animals to us, and we take care of them until they’re better. That’s how I got Edgar Allan Poe, my pet crow. We rehabbed him after he was shot, but since he could never fly again, Dad let me keep him as a pet. I’m going to miss him while I’m away.
Dr. Mac is the veterinarian who owns Dr. Mac’s Place. She’s also Maggie and Zoe’s grandmother. She asked me and the others to volunteer at the clinic a couple of months ago. It was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me.
When she first asked me to go along on the manatee trip, I knew my parents would say no. We don’t have that kind of extra money. When they heard that Dr. Mac insisted on paying for everything, they were like, “No way, we don’t take charity.”
Dr. Mac came over for dinner and spent all night convincing them. She’s a genius. She’s made a bundle from her newspaper column and from patents on some veterinary equipment, and she told my parents she likes to spend it teaching kids about animals.
She’s donated a lot of money to the Gold Coast Rescue Center, too. That’s part of why we’re going. Dr. Mac is hosting a fund-raiser for the center. It’s run by Gretchen Linden, a former student of Dr. Mac’s. Along with manatee rescues and research, the center rehabs other injured wildlife. All that costs big bucks, so this fundraiser is important.
I fiddle with the manatee charm on my good-luck bracelet. I wish we were already there.
“What time is it, Sunita?” I ask. “This is taking forever.”
“Relax,” she says, checking her watch. “You still have a few minutes.” She sighs. “I wish I could come with you guys.”
Sunita was invited, but she has to go to her grandparents’ sixtieth wedding anniversary. It’s the kind of thing you can’t miss.