ELORUS JACK: Dolphin Pilot

Aside from a vocabulary which third graders should find comfortable, the book has little to offer in story or pictures. A pelorus is an instrument used by pilots to guide their ships. It became the nickname of a clownish dolphin of the 1880's who swam along with the ships entering a strait between two New Zealand islands. Pelorus Jack quickly became an international news item. A hunter who wounded him, hoping to stuff and sell the dolphin for display, created a national scandal resulting in protective legislation for all his kin. It is a story with believe-it-or-not aspects; Pelorus Jack was the only dolphin sighted in those waters and behaved as though he loved the audience ship passengers provided. Beyond this friendliness and urge to perform, only the most cursory information about dolphins is provided. All of the pictures are in color. The best show Pelorus Jack in full frelic, but illustrations of human figures are awkwardly stylized and static.