From Publishers Weekly
This ecology-themed fantasy adventure concerns a girl who, understanding the language of animals, is summoned by a dolphin to save the ocean's creatures. Ages 10-14. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Something stopped Nita's hand as it ran along the bookshelf. She looked and found that one of the books had a loose thread at the top of its spine. It was one of those So You Want to Be a . . . books, a series on careers. So You Want to Be a Pilot, and a Scientist . . . a Writer. But his one said, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

I don't belive this, Nina thought. She shut the book and stood there holding it in
her hand, confused, amazed, suspicious--and delighted. If it was a joke, it was a great one. If it wasn't . . . ?



Card catalog description
During a summer vacation at the beach, thirteen-year-old wizard Nita and her friend Kit assist the whale-wizard S'reee in combating an evil power.


About the Author
DIANE DUANE is the author of more then twenty science fiction and fantasy novels, including four other books in the Young Wizards series. Four of her Star Trek novels have been New York Times bestsellers. Ms. Duane lives in rural Ireland.



Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Summer Night's Song

There were no streetlights there, and the stars she loved were bright. After a while she stood up in the shoulder-high water, watching the sky. Back up on the beach, Ponch was barking, excited and noisy. He can't have found Kit that fast, Nita thought. Probably something distracted him. A crab, maybe. A dead fish. A shark . . .

Something pushed her in the back, hard. Nita gasped and whipped around in the water, thinking, This is it, there are too sharks here and I'm dead! The sight of the slick-skinned shape in the water stopped her breath-until she realized what she was looking at. A slender body, ten feet long; a blowhole and an amused eye that looked at her sidelong; and a long bleak face that wore a permanent smile. She reached out a hesitant hand, and under her touch the dolphin turned lazily, rolling sideways, brushing her with skin like warm, moonlit satin.

She was immensely relieved. "Dai'stiho," she said, greeting the swimmer in the Tongue that wizards use, the language that she'd learned from her manual and that all creatures understand. She expected no more answer than a fizz or squeak as the dolphin returned the greeting and went about its business.

But the dolphin rolled back toward her and looked at her in what seemed to be shock. "A wizard! " it said in an urgent whistle. Nita had no time to answer; the dolphin dived and its tail slapped the surface, spraying her. By the time Nita rubbed the salt sting out of her eyes, there was nothing near her but the usual roaring breakers.

Copyright © 1985 by Diane Duane

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to the following address:

Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc.,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887

ANNOTATION

During a summer vacation at the beach, thirteen-year-old wizard Nita and her friend Kit assist the whale-wizard S'reee in combating an evil power.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Something stopped Nita's hand as it ran along the bookshelf. She looked and found that one of the books had a loose thread at the top of its spine. It was one of those So You Want to Be a . . . books, a series on careers. So You Want to Be a Pilot, and a Scientist . . . a Writer. But his one said, So You Want to Be a Wizard.I don't belive this, Nina thought. She shut the book and stood there holding it inher hand, confused, amazed, suspicious--and delighted. If it was a joke, it was a great one. If it wasn't . . . ?

SYNOPSIS

The first three novels in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, now in digest size for younger readers!

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly