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Mudshark
Mudshark is the go-to guy for any mysteries that need solving. Lost your shoe? Can’t find your homework? Ask Mudshark. That is, until the Psychic Parrot takes up residence in the school library and threatens to overturn Mudshark’s position as the guy who knows all the answers. 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 rampant, an emergency in the faculty restroom, and all the erasers are disappearing from the classrooms.
When Mudshark solves the mystery of who’s stealing the erasers, he discovers the culprit has the best of intentions. Now he has to think of a way to prevent the Psychic Parrot from revealing the eraser-thief’s identity. With a bit of misdirection and a lot of quick thinking, Mudshark restores order to the chaos . . . just for the moment.
From the Hardcover edition.
When Mudshark solves the mystery of who’s stealing the erasers, he discovers the culprit has the best of intentions. Now he has to think of a way to prevent the Psychic Parrot from revealing the eraser-thief’s identity. With a bit of misdirection and a lot of quick thinking, Mudshark restores order to the chaos . . . just for the moment.
From the Hardcover edition.
83 pages, Library Binding
First published May 12, 2009
46 people are currently reading
608 people want to read
About the author
Gary Paulsen
390Ìýbooks3,834ÌýfollowersGary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews
January 24, 2018
Lyle Williams, nicknamed Mudshark by his classmates, is the go-to guy at school for finding lost items and solving small mysteries. His mind is always working....his memory is amazing. He can remember where he saw lost items and solve almost any mystery or problem. Pretty good for a 12-year old, eh? But he finds himself with a feathered rival when the school librarian gets a parrot. The parrot seems to be psychic. It can answer kids' questions about lost homework and misplaced books faster than Mudshark can. Rumors shoot around the school in lightning speed that the bird can out-think Mudshark. Will he lose his cool reputation at school? And, if he's being out manuvered by a bird who will find the escaped gerbil, solve the mystery of the faculty restroom and discover why erasers are disappearing from classrooms? Mudshark is on the case.....before he loses to a psychic parrot!
This book is incredibly cute and funny. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for months, waiting for me to notice it and start reading. I'm SO glad I finally took the time to read this delightful children's book! This is the first book by Gary Paulsen that I have read....I will definitely be reading more of his writing! Mudshark is a great main character. He likes his position at school....his reputation as an amazing brain. And he gets quite ruffled when he realizes his place might be usurped by a bird. The mysteries he solves are a hoot -- like the kid who wanted to be a magician and made his father's new car disappear.....then couldn't make it re-appear. :) Mudshark solved that problem quickly. :) (Never have a 16-year old cousin "help'' you do magic tricks!)
Sometimes I have to take a break from more serious adult reading. Those are the times I just love to read some children's lit. Stories like this make reading fun.....and clear the mind from more serious adult-type thoughts. I had a wonderful time sipping my morning coffee and enjoying this tale of middle school mysteries and challenges. :)
Fun read!
This book is incredibly cute and funny. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for months, waiting for me to notice it and start reading. I'm SO glad I finally took the time to read this delightful children's book! This is the first book by Gary Paulsen that I have read....I will definitely be reading more of his writing! Mudshark is a great main character. He likes his position at school....his reputation as an amazing brain. And he gets quite ruffled when he realizes his place might be usurped by a bird. The mysteries he solves are a hoot -- like the kid who wanted to be a magician and made his father's new car disappear.....then couldn't make it re-appear. :) Mudshark solved that problem quickly. :) (Never have a 16-year old cousin "help'' you do magic tricks!)
Sometimes I have to take a break from more serious adult reading. Those are the times I just love to read some children's lit. Stories like this make reading fun.....and clear the mind from more serious adult-type thoughts. I had a wonderful time sipping my morning coffee and enjoying this tale of middle school mysteries and challenges. :)
Fun read!
July 5, 2010
Great writing. Just ... not much of a story. Does that make sense?
By great writing I mean like the following (page 18 and 19):
"There are many ways to describe Ms. Underdorf.
She was brilliant and joyous and she believed--probably correctly--that libraries contain the answers to all things, to everything, and that if you can't find the information you seek in the library, then such information probably does not exist in this or any parallel universe now or ever to be known.
She was thoughtful and kind and she always believed the best of everybody. She was, above all else, a master librarian and knew where to find any book on any subject in the shortest possible time.
And she was wonderfully unhinged ..."
By great writing I mean like the following (page 18 and 19):
"There are many ways to describe Ms. Underdorf.
She was brilliant and joyous and she believed--probably correctly--that libraries contain the answers to all things, to everything, and that if you can't find the information you seek in the library, then such information probably does not exist in this or any parallel universe now or ever to be known.
She was thoughtful and kind and she always believed the best of everybody. She was, above all else, a master librarian and knew where to find any book on any subject in the shortest possible time.
And she was wonderfully unhinged ..."
November 28, 2012
Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
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.
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.
November 16, 2009
3.5 stars. "Mudshark" is Paulsen's answer to "Harriet the Spy" meets "Joe Cool". I was a bit puzzled by the rogue parrot's intellectualization, but I liked the protagonist's comparative savvy. Each chapter begins with a broadcast from the principal's office, bellowing an update on several school happenings. The school's population is eccentric, but lovable. "Mudshark" was a fast read, and the characters' antics would be interesting to 9 to 11 year-olds.
August 5, 2016
Over the years Gary Paulsen has created some memorable characters, and twelve-year-old Lyle Williams (known to friends and admirers as Mudshark) may join the ranks of his fan favorites. Mudshark is the epitome of Joe Cool, owner of a dazzling logical mind that never misses a trick when he's on the trail of a mystery or missing object in the vicinity of his school. He's the only member of his family never outwitted or overwhelmed by his younger triplet sisters, Kara, Sara, and Tara, who are frequently too much for their distracted parents to handle. Mudshark learned the value of education as a tiny child, fortifying his brain with every scrap of literature he could get his hands on at the library where his mother works, and that provided him a foundation of knowledge to inform his sleuthing capabilities. Whenever a kid or grownup at school needs a gumshoe, they put in a call to Mudshark, and he never fails to come through for them. It's a heck of an arrangement.
Things seem to change when the school librarian brings in a talkative parrot as part of an initiative to introduce pets to the learning environment. The parrot proves to be faster than Mudshark at solving cases, and the novelty of a bird detective relegates Mudshark to second-in-command. Cool as Mudshark is, he's not pleased with his position being usurped, so he looks for a way to prove his superiority to the popularly acclaimed "psychic bird." What connection does the parrot have to the disturbingly dysfunctional faculty bathroom, the talents of kid magician Kyle Robertson, a fugitive gerbil in the school's halls and vent system, and the pilfering of blackboard erasers from every classroom in the building? With Mudshark and the cheeky parrot each on the case, answers are sure to surface eventually, but Mudshark's reputation depends on him figuring it out first. Can he find what links the ostensibly unrelated elements of the case together and arrive at an answer before his colorfully plumed rival?
I can't argue if you say some of Mudshark is nonsensical, but certain parts of the story cause me to raise my rating slightly, to one and a half stars. I like the thief's reason for swiping the erasers, the fact that original poetic thoughts, mathematical revelations, and other landmark moments in children's educations often pop into existence on blackboards, and it's sad to think of them being erased forever at the end of each day. There's a shortage of beauty and success in the world as is; why erase it if you don't have to? Mudshark's response is thoughtful, and his conversation with the thief is the highlight of this book. Though Mudshark may not appeal to fans who discovered Gary Paulsen through elegant novels he wrote such as Dogsong, Woodsong, The Haymeadow, Nightjohn, or The Rifle, it's a serviceable introduction to the author for younger kids who have yet to make his acquaintance. Mudshark is no Hatchet, but I liked it anyway.
Things seem to change when the school librarian brings in a talkative parrot as part of an initiative to introduce pets to the learning environment. The parrot proves to be faster than Mudshark at solving cases, and the novelty of a bird detective relegates Mudshark to second-in-command. Cool as Mudshark is, he's not pleased with his position being usurped, so he looks for a way to prove his superiority to the popularly acclaimed "psychic bird." What connection does the parrot have to the disturbingly dysfunctional faculty bathroom, the talents of kid magician Kyle Robertson, a fugitive gerbil in the school's halls and vent system, and the pilfering of blackboard erasers from every classroom in the building? With Mudshark and the cheeky parrot each on the case, answers are sure to surface eventually, but Mudshark's reputation depends on him figuring it out first. Can he find what links the ostensibly unrelated elements of the case together and arrive at an answer before his colorfully plumed rival?
I can't argue if you say some of Mudshark is nonsensical, but certain parts of the story cause me to raise my rating slightly, to one and a half stars. I like the thief's reason for swiping the erasers, the fact that original poetic thoughts, mathematical revelations, and other landmark moments in children's educations often pop into existence on blackboards, and it's sad to think of them being erased forever at the end of each day. There's a shortage of beauty and success in the world as is; why erase it if you don't have to? Mudshark's response is thoughtful, and his conversation with the thief is the highlight of this book. Though Mudshark may not appeal to fans who discovered Gary Paulsen through elegant novels he wrote such as Dogsong, Woodsong, The Haymeadow, Nightjohn, or The Rifle, it's a serviceable introduction to the author for younger kids who have yet to make his acquaintance. Mudshark is no Hatchet, but I liked it anyway.
November 1, 2013
I thought this book was pretty interesting. I really just grabbed it off the shelf and decided to give it a try. Lyle Williams was a quick thinker and great observer. He was also known in school as Mudshark. During the game of Death Ball he would hide in the mud and catch the runners� ankles. He would do it so fast that high-speed cameras could not catch it. Therefore, that is why they called him Mudshark.
Everyone would go to him if they had lost something or wanted to know details for an event. Until one day when the librarian brought this special parrot to school. The parrot could give people information faster than Mudshark and was more observant around the school. Mudshark gets jealous of the parrot, which causes him to solve the ultimate mystery at his school. Which was where did all of the schools� chalkboard erasers go? Mudshark finds them and gets honored by the principal to solve another school mystery.
This book is told in third person point of view, following the life of Lyle Williams. Also known in the book as Mudshark. The Mudshark was cool. He didn’t know or think he was. He just was. Everyone knew he was the go to guy for answers, because of his fast thinking and ability to solve mysteries.“Mudshark� takes place all around Lyle Williams school in the twenty first century. Mostly in the schools� library though. They have present day things like Smart Boards and walkie-talkies.
I think the authors� message in the book “Mudshark� is that you must go above and beyond to keep your title. If someone or something steals a title or name from you, you should do whatever it takes to get it back. Encouragement is a theme, because Mudshark is trying to prove he is better than the parrot.
I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school or is going to be in middle school. The story has humor that fits that age group best. It was a pretty good book to read.
Everyone would go to him if they had lost something or wanted to know details for an event. Until one day when the librarian brought this special parrot to school. The parrot could give people information faster than Mudshark and was more observant around the school. Mudshark gets jealous of the parrot, which causes him to solve the ultimate mystery at his school. Which was where did all of the schools� chalkboard erasers go? Mudshark finds them and gets honored by the principal to solve another school mystery.
This book is told in third person point of view, following the life of Lyle Williams. Also known in the book as Mudshark. The Mudshark was cool. He didn’t know or think he was. He just was. Everyone knew he was the go to guy for answers, because of his fast thinking and ability to solve mysteries.“Mudshark� takes place all around Lyle Williams school in the twenty first century. Mostly in the schools� library though. They have present day things like Smart Boards and walkie-talkies.
I think the authors� message in the book “Mudshark� is that you must go above and beyond to keep your title. If someone or something steals a title or name from you, you should do whatever it takes to get it back. Encouragement is a theme, because Mudshark is trying to prove he is better than the parrot.
I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school or is going to be in middle school. The story has humor that fits that age group best. It was a pretty good book to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2020
Mudshark is a short mystery chapter book. The main character, nicknamed "Mudshark," has a way of knowing the answers to the questions everyone is wondering such as, "Where did I leave my homework?" This chapter book takes readers on a mystery adventure to discover what is happening to all of the chalkboard erasers and so much more. Through solving the mysteries, readers see special bonds develop through big hearts!
This book would be great for 5th graders because some of the vocabulary is more advanced. A great feature of this book is how each chapter hints at what is going to happen in the next chapter which keeps readers guessing. This makes Mudshark a great book for practicing and modeling strategies of predicting and recognizing foreshadowing. Additionally, the character Mudshark credits his exceptional skill of solving mysteries with paying attention to details and being a good observer. If focused on during a read aloud, this part of the book could be helpful for introducing the important science skill and practice of paying close attention to evidence through observation.
This is a WOW book because of the way it is creatively written. Each chapter begins with the same format of the principal making an announcement which provides more clues as to what the mystery is and how it will be solved. I love how this book made me think as I read it, and the heartwarming ended made it even better!
This book would be great for 5th graders because some of the vocabulary is more advanced. A great feature of this book is how each chapter hints at what is going to happen in the next chapter which keeps readers guessing. This makes Mudshark a great book for practicing and modeling strategies of predicting and recognizing foreshadowing. Additionally, the character Mudshark credits his exceptional skill of solving mysteries with paying attention to details and being a good observer. If focused on during a read aloud, this part of the book could be helpful for introducing the important science skill and practice of paying close attention to evidence through observation.
This is a WOW book because of the way it is creatively written. Each chapter begins with the same format of the principal making an announcement which provides more clues as to what the mystery is and how it will be solved. I love how this book made me think as I read it, and the heartwarming ended made it even better!
July 23, 2022
Once again Gary Paulsen has written a winner! Paulsen ties in humor, wit and adventure in this mystery novel. Not only is Mudshark a symbolic name for our middle school character, but there are allusions for gifted students to delve deeper and do more readings or research mentioned in the book. It’s a quick read for students and teachers alike. There may be a bit over the top toilet humor, but keeps the beginning of the chapters/school announcements more interesting.
October 5, 2019
An absolutely hilarious read, all kids and adults will truly enjoy this quick fun story!!
August 22, 2024
p.3 "Nothing moves faster than a tiny, determined toddler heading toward a breakable or swallowable object."
January 11, 2013
Mudshark is one of the weirdest books I have ever read. If you like odd books, I recommend this book to you. The reading level is around the fourth grade level. Mudshark is about a fast-thinking go-to guy if anyone has questions or problems. Mudshark’s name is Lyle Williams but he’s known as Mudshark throughout the book. Well, Mudshark is a detective at his school and his enemy is the physic parrot who thinks he can outsmart Mudshark. Erasers go missing and Mudshark uses his skills to solve the mystery of the erasers, then moves on to find the teacher who is looking for the escaped gerbil in the ductwork. In the end, he’s on his investigation of the teacher, Mr. Patterson, and the gerbil. The parrot never outsmarted Mudshark! He’s number one!
January 9, 2013
"Mudshark" is a great book for all kids at all reading levels because it is an easy and fast read. This book is a hard book to put down because once you start it you have to finish it. "Mudshark" is an easy book to follow and understand but at the same time makes you think. It also makes you put the pieces of the story together. The characters in "Mudshark" are mysterious and some are very funny. This book is a good book to just sit down and read on a rainy weekend.
March 22, 2013
In the novel "Mudshark" by Gary Paulsen, the main character is the kind of kid who everybody comes to when they need something solved. Mudshark continues with this role until a psychic parrot comes into the school and starts making Mudshark look bad. He is then put to the test to prove to himself that he is better than the parrot. I recommend this book to all kids in middle school and older, because it is an easy and fun book to read.
February 8, 2020
"Mudshark" by Gary Paulsen is a great book of mystery and problem solving. Books like this fill me with excitement because it is about a case of missing erasers. Books about mystery like this one makes me very tense. That's why I love it. And the idea of a boy with a natural talent for paying attention to a lot of things and knowing where everything is, is brilliant. I recommend this book to all mystery lovers.
September 17, 2016
The characters were too oddball and random for me, so overall, I did not enjoy this book as much as other Gary Paulsen books. I think an upper elementary student would find this quick read humorous, but I thought the characters and events were either bizarre or boring.
September 28, 2010
Good book. It's very hilarious and mysterious, but a bit to short for me. I think people who like stories that are short and funny, then this book is for Y-O-U!
November 13, 2010
Very funny. Kids will love this and teachers reading it aloud will laugh as well.
June 17, 2012
Heavy-handed and over the top. I much prefer Paulsen's memoirs and adventure books to his recent humorous MG books.
September 28, 2014
Would be better if has some more adventure instead of just mysteries.
January 22, 2019
Mudshark is the smartest kid in school, finding lost objects and solving mysteries for his classmates and teachers. When a psychic parrot takes up residence in the school library, Mudshark's detective agency is threatened, and he'll do anything to outsmart that talking bird. Between stolen chalkboard erasers, a missing gerbil, and a toxic situation in the faculty restrooms, Mudshark will have to think and scheme and plan to save his school!
This story is hilarious, with weird and wacky characters, and a silly plot. Mudshark himself reminds me a little bit of Encyclopedia Brown, with a photographic memory and an eye for details. He's a puzzle solver, and has lightning-quick reflexes.
The dialogue is silly, the characters are dorky and strange. I laughed my head off in every chapter!
My only complaint is that the plot isn't very cohesive. Some of the tangents don't tie back into the main plotline, and a few of the scenes are only there to establish characters that don't have any influence on the main storyline. I wish the story had a more stream-lined plot, and didn't add so many unrelated details. It's still very enjoyable though!
This story is hilarious, with weird and wacky characters, and a silly plot. Mudshark himself reminds me a little bit of Encyclopedia Brown, with a photographic memory and an eye for details. He's a puzzle solver, and has lightning-quick reflexes.
The dialogue is silly, the characters are dorky and strange. I laughed my head off in every chapter!
My only complaint is that the plot isn't very cohesive. Some of the tangents don't tie back into the main plotline, and a few of the scenes are only there to establish characters that don't have any influence on the main storyline. I wish the story had a more stream-lined plot, and didn't add so many unrelated details. It's still very enjoyable though!
August 30, 2019
58 pages before dropping. It's so simple, the mystery aspect is just Mudshark randomly luckily finding or hearing things like a lost cat and him luckily noticing that the old lady at the grocery store was buying cat food now. It's not so much deduction that the viewer can participate in since the answer is given and only then explained how he got to the answer. Also the attempts at humor with the principal complaining on the loudspeaker about thw missing erasers and gerbil and bathroom etc is just not funny for me. The reason the janitor stole the erasers to stop smart or deep art or words from being erased is semi believable but just a bit ridiculous and too easily solved. Mudsharks logic was dumb too - janitors have all the school keys to eraser blackboards but a lot of students and teachers can sneak in to any classroom too. Just very meh overall.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2019
Curious to read Paulsen again after a long hiatus (will now need to read at least one other title since this one was less than expected). The chapter openers are engagingly full of action and interesting subplot hints galore. The voice of those openers is a fun mash up of 'Letters from the Fountain' and 'Men in Black.' The actual story - plot, character, setting - is 90% telling with smatterings of showing. Some of the telling and showing didn't even match. For example, "Mudshark was cool." Is not true. He's a major nerd (in a good way); decidedly uncool. The book is NOT simplifying to meet the experience level of new-to-chapters readers, it's just flat. Sure, there's tons of potential in terms of setting details & character traits, but it's all woven together in a very 2-D fashion. Fortunately, there are tons more Paulsen options to enjoy out there.
October 10, 2017
Such a fun read! It really felt like something that you would read in a collection of short stories, only this was slightly longer than a typical short story. Regardless, it had a very similar plot structure to most short stories. It was a quick read with only a handful of characters, with only one or two really fleshed out characters. All good things to have in a short story. On top of that it was humorous. I loved the little anecdotes from the principal's announcements. I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on in the faculty bathroom that required such extreme measures to handle, those could almost be a story all by themselves.
January 24, 2019
My heart went out to the principal of that school! The erasers are disappearing from classrooms, there's a gerbil on the lose, and the faculty bathroom needs to be relocated to Area 51. Can Mudshark, the most observant kid in the school, solve the mysteries, or will the librarian's new, psychic parrot put the Mudshark Detective Agency out of business?
This book was funny. The images and situations Paulsen either described or hinted at were fantastic. My only complaint with the book was that all of the adults were either unobservant, unintelligent, or eccentric. Overall, I highly enjoyed the book and strongly recommend it.
This book was funny. The images and situations Paulsen either described or hinted at were fantastic. My only complaint with the book was that all of the adults were either unobservant, unintelligent, or eccentric. Overall, I highly enjoyed the book and strongly recommend it.
December 10, 2019
I read this book because it was in a stack of short books I needed to read and then pass on, but I'm so glad I did, because lately I've been reading books by Andrew Clements and this one FEELS like one of HIS. I love Gary Paulsen's books too, but I've been on a Clements kick recently, and it was so funny that this one really had such the same friendly, funny, happy-little-capers going on thoughtfulness in a school environment with kids and all their antics, and animals, too! It was a quick little read I had fun bopping my way through, and it had some deep insights and interesting points to ponder that are what really make give it such an impact.
December 10, 2019
From infancy Lyle spent hours in the library with his mom learning to read, teaching him to think and develop an almost perfect memory. Years later, keeping track of his active triplet sisters developed his fast reflexes. Both earned him his nickname, made him the cool man at school and lead him to form a detective agency.
He’s kind of like a grammar school Sherlock Holmes and the characters in the story are very strange. But in the end everything works out in a very interesting way.
Fave scenes: Mudshark catching his sisters when they first started crawling and his discovery about the parrot.
He’s kind of like a grammar school Sherlock Holmes and the characters in the story are very strange. But in the end everything works out in a very interesting way.
Fave scenes: Mudshark catching his sisters when they first started crawling and his discovery about the parrot.
February 26, 2017
2.5 stars. I was not impressed with this one. Aaron is currently reading this for his English class. I felt it was too young for 11 and 12 year olds. This is something 4th graders should read. Lyle, aka Mudshark finds lost items. His ways are being challenged by the school's new pet parrot. Erasers have gone missing, all of them, and Mudshark is assigned the task of locating them. This was a vacation-assigned read, so perhaps that's why it seemed out of place.
August 3, 2018
A Mom review: (read this to my 5 and 10 year olds)
Very different from Hatchet. I would compare this to Frindle. It is a 6th grade reading level but I believe it could be enjoyed by younger audiences as well. Very clean which is always a plus i think dang is the worst word used. They do talk a bit about crayfish reproduction with crayfish mommies and daddies, but it is very pg and would go over a younger kiddos head.
Very different from Hatchet. I would compare this to Frindle. It is a 6th grade reading level but I believe it could be enjoyed by younger audiences as well. Very clean which is always a plus i think dang is the worst word used. They do talk a bit about crayfish reproduction with crayfish mommies and daddies, but it is very pg and would go over a younger kiddos head.
August 24, 2022
Lyle Williams, Mudshark, has a photographic memory and is the go-to guy if you have a problem, want to know where something is, or generally want to know something. He spends most of his down time in the school library. Students as well as the principal ask for his help. The most puzzling problems at school are missing erasers from all the classrooms, a missing gerbil, and problems in the faculty restroom.
January 31, 2018
This is a fun story. I love at the end that he involves others to help him instead of the typical "I have to do this myself and then find out I should have asked for help." My teenager also enjoyed this short read because of the cool, but humble main character. I would recommend this book for third and fourth grade, especially reluctant readers.
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