“It was so intense and vibrant that Gracie felt like she could hear the color shouting.”
Gracie loves snorkeling so much, she plans a family vacation to Roatán, Honduras. Readers who travel to Roatán with Gracie will encounter two worlds: the vibrant, hidden ecosystem of fish and fauna who call coral reefs their home, and the complex familial web in which Gracie must negotiate the delights and challenges of her neurodivergent brother, Ben.
Linda Sue Park takes the reader into the ocean to explore the undersea world. With Gracie, they will learn that coral reefs are not inanimate objects (like rocks), but a complex ecosystem filled with hundreds of thousands of colorful, living creatures. Coral reefs attract a range of tropical fish – and predators, too — and readers will learn all about them, along with the ailing health and vulnerability of the corals themselves.
“Lionfish are lionfish.”
Consider the lionfish, an exotic and flamboyantly beautiful fish that’s an alien species to the waters of Honduras. Lionfish are common to Southeast Asian waters, where predators keep their existence in balance, but Gracie discovers they have found their way to the Caribbean. However, without a predator higher up on the food chain, they’ve become a menace to the balance of the coral reefs.
Gracie’s brother Ben can be an accidental menace, too. In his overeagerness, he bumps into Gracie while snorkeling, causing her to burn her calf on a fire coral which knocks her out of several snorkeling days. She calls her brother “el percebe” (the barnacle) when frustrated, and she must strive to be a patient and loving sister, learning to better understand his ways and instincts.
Gracie meets one peer in Roatán, an experienced snorkeler named Aline. There is a little tension at first, but as Gracie learns more about the various threats to coral reefs (sunscreen!), they end up teaming up as the Snorkel Sisters and help readers understand the balance of life in the ocean– and what they can do to help preserve it.
“Seeing ocean life through her snorkeling mask was the closest she would ever come to witnessing life on another planet.”
Linda Sue Park has created an accessible, delightful window into the life of the sea. Students will come to understand sea turtles, jellyfish, sharks, and the vast mysteries of the coral reefs as much as they will relate to the delicate balance of life with a little brother!
