Dory Story

Kind of an interesting concept - kid goes out on his own in a dory, then sees the food chain in action. You start thinking it's a little far fetched when he starts seeing orcas and a humpback whale, but then it's revealed that he's just telling this story in the bathtub. I loved that he pointed out that the humpback doesn't eat orcas, it actually eats the tiniest krill and the food chain is actually more of a food web.

First person account of going out alone in a dory because he was curious and wanted to know more about plankton. He looks down in the water and guesses that shrimp are eating the plankton. Then he notices the sand eels are eating the shrimp, and the mackerels were eating the sand eels. Then he sees bluefish eating the mackerels. Suddenly tuna appear to chase and eat the bluefish. Next it's killer whales arriving to eat the tuna. He starts to panic that he will be next in the chain. Then a humpback whale breaches right in front of him. And he realizes the food chain is more of a web because the humpback whale eats plankton. But, wham, a tuna upsets his boat. Though he knows he should stay with the boat, he starts to swim for a little show more rock in the middle of the sea. Then his mother's voice interrupts: "Danny, you tell the best stories when you're in the bathtub! You should write a book." END show less

Impulse grab at the library. 3.5 stars. I liked it - when I was a child I wanted to go out by myself and watch the animals and figure out their behavior for myself w/out a grown-up teaching at me. But some of the critters on the food web are big and some are scary....

This is a great book for Effective questioning with many opportunities to ask questioning, before , during and after reading. In this book we follow a young boy who is discovering sea life while learning valuable lessons. The ending is unexpected which makes it great for predicting with children.

This story is so full of facts and things that could have actually happened that I was a little disappointed at the end when I found out it was fictional. It could be used by teachers to show students how they can write their own stories using a little bit of made-up information and a little bit of truth by using things in their lives. The reading level is 3.3

good read aloud story ... it seems as if the boy was out in the dangerous waters alone, ... not so! in the bath tub.

Imaginative story of a child's adventure on the ocean in a dory. Also details the ocean food chains as he encounters different species of animals that live in the ocean.