Stranded

While the main character of this story is a girl named Koby, I would think that any child, boys included, who loves the ocean or wildlife would love Stranded by Ben Mikaelsen. This is a book for kids who aspire to be marine biologists.This is also a book for kids that have a disability. Koby lost her foot in an accident when she was eight. Now she is twelve and still suffers from the stigma of an artificial limb.

Koby is a seventh-grader with no friends. People regard her and her artificial leg from a distance. It is no surprise that she has become a loner. It is also unusual that Koby lives on a houseboat with her parents. She is more comfortable in the water than on land. It is in the water that she makes a new kind of friend. Koby finds a sick pilot whale who is in labor. Koby helps it to deliver her baby. Koby continues to return to the ocean in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the whale and her child.

Because of Koby's vigilance, it is she who finds the pilot whale and her child beached on land. And it is perserverant Koby who spends the night with them, holding them up so they can breathe through their blowholes until the Coast Guard arrive. They do arrive in large part because Koby's mom has called them when she can't find her daughter.

Koby has established a level of trust with the pilot whales that the veternarians and whale specialists cannot. She offers to stay with the whales to soothe them and help the doctors and her offer is accepted. Now Koby gets to stay where she is most comfortable, in the water, and with people who accept her regardless of her disability. In fact, they are impressed by her courage and loyalty and welcome her into the group. Her thoughts and ideas are given consideration.

You cannot save and rehabilitate a beached whale without a little bit of publicity. Koby and the plight of her whales draw the attention of the media and then the attention of her peers. Koby has never been accepted with the artificial limb. How much more will her peers look down on her if they see her without a limb at all? Koby must decide if it is worth it to take the leg off so she can swim with her whales even with an audience of peers looking on. Her freedom is worth it. It's amazing, but without the fake leg, the other kids find her more approachable. She can do many things better than they can with two legs!

There is a lot of action, adventure and suspense in these pages. To add to the mix, Koby's parents decide to separate in the midst of the action. Koby's mother leaves the houseboat.

Scat shoved environmentalism in the readers face with the worst of greedy villains and the best of well-meaning, but sometimes violent, good guys. Stranded is much more subtle in introducing the plight of animals in nature. It even shows how we can be a catalyst for change a person at a time.

Any child who has ever felt different from the pack can identify with Koby. They will celebrate her accomplishments with her. Perhaps she will spur them on to find their own adventure. Their own passion.