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Without even trying, Mudshark is a very cool 12-year-old (he acquired his nickname after wowing his peers with lightning-speed reflexes during a game of Death Ball ("a kind of soccer mixed with football and wrestling and rugby and mudfighting"). He is mentally quick as well: his powers of observation and photographic memory enable him to tell kids where to find misplaced possessions. But when the school librarian acquires an apparently psychic parrot, Mudshark's role is threatened. This, he reluctantly admits, "rattled his cool," and he is determined to discover the whereabouts of the missing blackboard erasers before the parrot does, a feat that entails crafty and comical maneuverings. Additional diversions (chapters open with dispatches from the principal, offering updates on a loose gerbil and an escalating crisis in the faculty restroom) keep this compact story quick and light. Yet three-time Newbery Honor author Paulsen (Hatchet) delves deeper, shaping Mudshark as a credible and compassionate protagonist, despite his improbable abilities and the even more improbable situations that arise at his off-kilter school. Which makes this clever novel all the cooler. Ages 8-12. (May)
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Gary Paulsen is one of the most honored writers of contemporary literature for young readers. He has written more than one hundred book for adults and young readers, and is the author of three Newbery Honor titles: Dogsong, Hatchet, and The Winter Room. He divides his time among Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, and the Pacific.
Anonymous
Posted January 31, 2012
A good read anybody would like
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Posted January 15, 2012
My school librairian read the first three chapters aloud to us the other day and I loved it!!!!!!!!!! Must read for people who like a good book
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Posted February 2, 2011
Funky story, I read it non-stop and at the end I lived it. It is a must read. I had laughed so hard I cried. (Truly not that funny, but would get plenty of laughs out of it.) Buy it.
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Posted January 4, 2011
i am about to read it
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MUDSHARK is a great addition to any Gary Paulsen collection. It's not the HATCHET adventure type, but rather one of the crazy, mad-cap mishap stories like HOW ANGEL PETERSON GOT HIS NAME and LAWN BOY.
Mudshark is actually Lyle Williams. He got his name for his lightning speed and his incredible observation skills. These are skills he honed while keeping an eye on Kara, Sara, and Tara, his triplet sisters. When they became mobile, life became one accident-avoidance after another.
Most of Mudshark's skills are put to use helping his friends at school. He has a certain knack for finding anything that goes missing. The main adventure, in what I hope is Paulsen's first in a series of Mudshark adventures, is locating the school's mysteriously missing erasers. Yes, gradually every eraser in the school has disappeared.
The cast of characters in MUDSHARK is quite colorful. There's a talking parrot in the library, an easily excitable English teacher, a culturally educated custodian, and a "free-range" gerbil, just to name a few. I especially enjoyed the principal's announcements that opened each chapter. His running commentary on some sort of out-of-control situation in the faculty restroom was a hoot!
Aimed at an audience of 8-12 year olds, MUDSHARK is one of those fabulous Paulsen books that can be enjoyed by anyone from a beginning chapter book reader to a senior citizen who remembers what it's like to be a kid. At only 83 pages long, MUDSHARK is a quick way to pass the time and enjoy a laugh or two.
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Posted May 5, 2011
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Overview
Mudshark is cool. He’s fast-thinking and fast-moving, and with his photographic memory, He’s the go-to guy with the answers. Lost your shoe? Your dad’s car? Can’t find your homework? The mudshark Detective Agency is on the case. At least, it is until the Psychic Parrot takes up residence in the school library.The word in school is that the parrot can out- think Mudshark. And right now, the school needs someone who’s good at solving problems. There’s an escaped gerbil running the halls’ a near-nuclear emergency in the faculty restroom, and an unexplained phenomenon involving disappearing erasers. Once Mudshark solves the mystery of the erasers, he plans ...