The Missing Manatee - by Cynthia C DeFelice (Paperback)

About the Book

Skeet Waters discovers a manatee that's been shot in the head, and soon begins to unravel the mysteries that surround both the manatee's apparent murder and his parents' dissolving marriage.

Book Synopsis

A tribute to Florida, fishing, and family, Cynthia DeFelice's The Missing Manatee is "Sure to hook readers." - Booklist

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.

The Missing Manatee was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.

Review Quotes

"DeFelice delivers a fast-paced mystery with a strong sense of place. Strong characters and an effective first-person narration...create an exciting whole, sure to hook readers." --Booklist

"DeFelice keenly evokes the feel of a Gulf fishing town...the reader's empathy will be engaged as Skeet discovers that things aren't always what they seem." --Kirkus Reviews

"The characters shine. Readers will savor the story." --VOYA

"DeFelice offers a realistic adventure story that is fast paced and full of drama. The characters are multifaceted and well developed, and the story should prompt readers to think about cause and effect." --School Library Journal

"A great mystery." --SIGNAL

About the Author

Cynthia DeFelice was the author of many bestselling titles for young readers, including the novels Wild Life, The Ghost of Cutler Creek, Signal, and The Missing Manatee, as well as the picture books, One Potato, Two Potato, and Casey in the Bath. Her books were nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children's Books and Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, among numerous other honors. Cynthia was born in Philadelphia in 1951. As a child, she was always reading. Summer vacations began with a trip to the bookstore, where she and her sister and brothers were allowed to pick out books for their summer reading. "To me," she said, "those trips to the bookstore were even better than the rare occasions when we were given a quarter and turned loose at the penny-candy store on the boardwalk." Cynthia worked as a bookseller, a barn painter, a storyteller, and a school librarian. She and her husband lived in Geneva, New York. She died at age seventy-two in 2024.