Book talk: The word in the hallway is that if you've lost something, Mudshark can find it for you. But his keen observational skills help him with more than just finding lost items. There is no problem too big or too small for Mudshark and everyone goes to him if they've lost something. That is until Betty Crimper comes into the library one day to ask Mudshark about her lost paper and the parrot answers first. Even stranger, he's right. After that everyone starts going to the parrot with their problems instead of Mudshark. He knows there's something fishy going on, but he has bigger problems to worry about. All the erasers are disappearing from the classrooms, the faculty restroom is becoming toxic, and one of the teachers is going crazy in his quest to track down a missing gerbil. If anyone can sort this mess out, it's Mudshark.
Rocks my socks: I love the character of Mudshark. He's intelligent and thoughtful and he uses it to help out his classmates and so they respect him for it. He's cool because he's secure in who he is, not because he's trying to be.
Rocks in my socks: This book has several adult characters and every one of them suffers from Useless Adult Syndrome. It's so bad that the librarian (the librarian mind you) buys an armadillo for the library as a pet and she has it for several weeks before Mudshark points out to her that it's not only dead it's actually a novelty purse.
Every book its reader: The book's a mystery, but it has a lot of humor in it as well. There's no pictures, but the text is simple and short enough that it makes a good easy chapter book. I'd give it to 2nd or 3rd graders.
Mudshark by Gary Paulsen
Buy it at your local book store or check it out from your local library
What is the main problem in the book?
ReplyDelete