Shark Beneath the Reef

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 192 pages
• Published by: HarperTrophy April 15, 1991
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0064403084
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0064403085
• Book Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Weighs: 5.3 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Tomas, 14, must decide whether to continue his education or leave school to become a fisherman; PW praised George's "sensitive portrayal of social change and its effect on a young person's dreams" as "among her most suspenseful." Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up-- In the United States of the 21st century, 69% of the adult population is alcoholic, and a chain of government-regulated rehabilitation centers called Soberlife is flourishing. It is the law that minors can commit their parents to a Soberlife facility, as 14-year-old Sam has had to do with his mother in the hope of shielding his younger brother Ollie from her disease. The control which Sam exerts over the lives around him is monumental but has left him with no life of his own. In the end he finds that controlling others is only an illusion, and that Ollie has not been shielded but deeply wounded by his family's deception. The final note of this depressing scenario, however, is a hopeful one. Sam and his mother reveal themselves to each other for the first time and bond together in love and acceptance. The plot has many messages but is not overburdened. The characters of Sam, Ollie, and their mother are vivid, and the sense of foreboding surrounding Ollie's actions carries readers as the point of view shifts with each chapter. A strong story that delivers the chilling realization that the future which Brooks portrays is not very distant. --Nancy Curtin, Port Washington Public Library, N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
Thomas Toraz, fourteen year old boy, lives with his grandparents off the coast of Baja California. His grandpa, Ramone, owns the fishing camp that they live in. Thomas is a smart boy and has a chance to become a marine biologist if he stays is school. But he knows his family needs him more at home and could become a shark fisherman to fulfill his family tradition. He is faced with the conflict of whether to earn fast money or go to school and get a good education. He finds out that the officials are making his family pay rent on their own island but they aren't able to pay it and feels he needs to help and make money. His uncle says there is a whale shark in the shallows so he decided to try and catch the shark to pay the rent but messes up everytime. When he finally gets close enough to it, things are not as they appear.