Mary Underwater

Gr 5 Up–This debut novel follows a young girl who decides to build a real submarine. During the day, Mary attends Our Lady Star of the Sea, where she idolizes Joan of Arc, struggles with her relationship with her best friend, and starts getting increased attention from one of her male classmates, Kip Dwyer. Mary also has to face an alcoholic and increasingly violent father, just home from prison. One day Mary decides to build a submarine with the help of Kip and an older neighbor, a scientist. As Mary distracts herself with building, her long-lost aunt and wife re-enter her life and suddenly it seems that things might change. However, everything comes to a head one day and the submarine’s fate is threatened. Mary is left asking herself “What would Joan do?” Unfortunately this book aims too high, with multiple undeveloped plots vying for attention. There are pages of Joan of Arc’s story interspersed in the book, which only adds more to the book’s choppy nature. Additionally, while the main character comes off as young and naive, as the story progresses, her relationship with Kip and her father’s violence pushes up against the line of what is appropriate for a middle grade audience.