Young Gilly lives on the coast of Lighthouse Bay where she spends most of her time in the water until an unseen monster arrives one day. The monster makes things disappear, like: snapper, prawns, and a wooly sweater, but it isn’t too serious until it snatches one of Gilly’s beloved flippers right off of her foot as she sits on the end of a dock. Rumors begin to fly around the little coastal town about the monster. Then one day, the monster grabs Gilly’s other flipper! That does it! Gilly will trap this monster to get her flippers back. The town helps Gilly set a trap. Nothing happens, until one day the monster is struggling out in the water caught in a fishing net. It could drown. Gilly convinces the town to help rescue the monster or else they won’t get their missing things back. In the end, Gilly needs rescuing from the monster trap she has fallen into. ‘ “Hey, you’re not a rotten monster– you’re a sneaky walrus!” ‘ The town folk get their items back and become friends with the walrus.

Cyndi Marko’s illustrations make me want to go find this lovely quaint little seaport in Northern British Columbia or southern Alaska surrounded by snow capped mountains. I loved the humorous pictures of Gilly’s pet gold fish who goes everywhere with Gilly ( in and out of its goldfish bowl).

Marko includes an entire page full of walrus facts and over 1 1/2 dozen websites for those who will want to learn even more about walrus.

Submitted by Mary Pong