Eel was ill. He did not wake up feeling very electric."Oh, drat!" he said grumpily. "I've lost my zap!"An adorably funny undersea adventure for beginning readersPoor Eel. Kate and Dave want to help their friend get his zap back. All they need is a plan-one that doesn't involve biting things, even though Dave's shark teeth are itching to chomp something.With lots of help from the other sea creatures, the friends come up with the perfect way to jolt Eel's zap back into him. A surprise party is sure to do the trick! But the party starts off with a shock that no one expected. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Landry's (Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise!, reviewed May 9) spry if slight underwater tale opens as mermaid Kate asks her buddy Dave, a shark, what they should do that day. Dave spontaneously responds, "Let's bite something." (He "was bored, and boredom always made his teeth itch.") Dave's desire to bite becomes a recurring theme that supplies a large dose of the story's humor. On a visit to Eel, an electrical eel who laments that he's lost his "zap," Dave offers to help by giving the eel's tail "a good bite." Instead the ailing fellow promises the hungry shark a bite of plankton pie if he and Kate can "help him get his zap back." While the duo works on a plan to do just that, a despondent Eel convinces himself that they have forgotten all about him. Though their own plan misfires, all ends well and, in the process, Dave learns a lesson "to be a bit more cautious when biting." Brief chapters, simple sentences and subtle repetition make this a good choice for independent readers eager to plunge into early chapter books. Landry's rudimentary halftone artwork illustrates this light lark. Ages 7-10. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 1-3--When an electric eel loses his zap, it's up to Kate the mermaid and Dave the shark to find a cure. Dave eventually comes up with an idea: with the help of Kate and all of their ocean friends, he organizes a party to surprise Eel into zapping again. However, when this plan doesn't work, it's the shark's need to chomp that inadvertently helps Eel to return to normal. This beginner chapter book includes simple and complex sentences with words up to a moderate degree of difficulty. The familiar plot is given a bit of humor by Dave's repeated desire to chew on everything in sight. The black-and-white illustrations have a grainy and unappealing quality. Overall, this tale of friendship pairs an uninspired text with flat and lackluster art.-Catherine Callegari, San Antonio Public Library, TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 2-4. Planning a surprise party is always fun; there are secrets as well as celebration. In this early chapter book\b , a group of fish friends have a special reason for surprising Eel. Having lost his electric zap, he needs a shock to jolt him back. With active, comic pictures on every page, each of the eight chapters is full of underwater action as Kate (who looks like a mermaid) and Dave (clearly a shark that wants to bite everything and everyone) gather their buddies for the party and yell, Surprise! But it's not only Eel who is in for a dramatic shock. New readers will enjoy the characters (especially Dave) and the warm story, with tension that rises until the very last chapter. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2005 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.