Parents' Guide to

The Line Tender

By Joly Herman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Story of loss explores life in and out of the ocean.

The Line Tender Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 12+

Good book - if you question it read B4 your kid

There was under age drinking. My 10 year old read it as a book choice at school, not sure how I feel about a 10 year old reading about young kids drinking. Also, processing the deaths that happen is for a more mature audience IMO. Great message. I'd recommend reading it first if you're unsure. I enjoyed the book.

This title has:

Great messages
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
age 12+

The Line Tender

It was an amazing book and my son and daughter loved it! It was truly inspiring, though it had some inappropriate language, it was definitely worth the read, and the good powerful messages definitely overturn the bad.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (4 ):

Nature plays a starring role in this story of stunning loss that's poignant, stark, and at times funny. In The Line Tender, Lucy Everhart carries a heavy load as a child who lost her mom at age 7 and whose dad is rarely around to put food in the fridge. When a friend tragically dies, her obsession with her late-mother's research blossoms. She finds that she needs to make sense of her mom's life work in order to make sense of her own life. These things feel realistic.The description of life in a coastal town is vividly and intimately described.

But, kids might notice that Lucy's voice is not always in tune with her age. She's 12, but she sometimes sounds like a 25-year-old graduate student. ("My body was starting to show signs of weight loss after only two weeks.") Describing her mother in a video, she mentions "watching her navigate a strange world so capably." But then she describes the sound of the police radio as "farty." It makes Lucy seem a little random, as if she's not a fully fleshed-out character grounded in her age. But the setting and the action feel real, and readers who interested in marine life will get to know sharks nearly as well as the humans observing them.

Book Details

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