Winter's Tail : How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again
School Library Journal: Gr 4?6?A compassionate look at the true odyssey of an orphaned Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Rescued from a crab trap, with severe injuries, "Winter" was brought to the Clearwater (FL) Marine Aquarium and, despite the heroic efforts of the staff, lost her tail. Trying to swim "fish-style," Winter caught the attention of a prosthetic engineer, and the Hatkoffs' clear text follows the efforts of a mixed team from the aquarium and Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics to design a workable "tail" to keep her healthy. Full-color photos reveal the cooperative efforts of the human team and Winter in this journey toward a more normal life (some of their work has produced benefits for human amputees). Fans of the Hatkoffs' "Owen & Mzee" titles (Scholastic), or of Carol Buckley's Tarra and Bella (Putnam, 2009) will gobble up this empathy-raising tale of the little dolphin that could. A long section describing the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, dolphin data and the way dolphins in captivity are trained, and the work of Kevin Carroll and Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics are appended to satisfy the questions of curious readers.?Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY