54 pages 1 hour read

Karen Hesse

The Music Of Dolphins

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1996

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Part 1, Preface-Chapter 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Preface Summary

Content Warning: This section references child abuse.

Mila swims with her dolphin family through the ocean. A sense of joy fills the air as she and the dolphins jump and glide together, scare off unaware seagulls, and use a feather to play a game of pass. Mila relishes how the dolphins encircle and protect her. Their pod comes across a school of fish and stops to eat. Meanwhile, Mila swims up to an island shore to find fresh water and crabs. She hears something overhead: It looks like an airplane, but as it draws closer, she cannot recognize the craft. In fact, it is a helicopter. Mila stops to drink from a pool and hears her “dolphin mother” whistle to her. The helicopter grows louder. A container drops from the craft, and a man runs toward Mila. He is too quick for her to escape him.

A newspaper article details Mila’s capture from a journalist’s perspective. It reports that the rescue crew that found Mila off the Florida Keys was piloted by Nicholas Fisk and included a mechanical engineer, Gary Barnett, as well as Lieutenant Junior Grade Monica Stone. Stone comments that she initially thought Mila was a mermaid.