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Reviewed by:
  • First Dive to Shark Dive
  • Elizabeth Bush
Lourie, Peter First Dive to Shark Dive. Boyds Mills, 200648p illus. with photographs ISBN 1-59078-068-X$17.95 R Gr. 4-6

Suzanna Lourie, daughter of children's travel/geography writer Peter Lourie (On the Trail of Lewis and Clark, BCCB 9/02), spends the week of her twelfth birthday [End Page 411] with Dad on Andros Island in the Bahamas, determined to become a certified scuba diver and take a plunge among the sharks. Though the dialogue is rather stilted, descriptions are thorough and vivid; Lourie documents her efforts with a father's pride and worry and laces information about scuba training with descriptions of island life, focusing particularly on local customs (wild boar catching, bush medicine) and beliefs (impish "Chickcharnie" creatures seem to be often underfoot). Suzanna herself is a chip off the old block, offering journal entries that evince an adventurer's spirit—and sometimes trepidation—and an appreciative eye for the beauty and power of undersea life. Color photos of Androsian terrain, marine fauna, island dwellers, and divers in action are as informal as a family scrapbook, capturing the intimacy of the father/daughter weekend. One might wonder in passing why Lourie, who admits he hasn't dived in a decade, seems to get away without a refresher course, but the luminous coral reef, the sharks, the photogenic young diver, and the deep amber sunset leave this concern far, far behind.

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