Tide and Seek in the Deep: Gilbert the Hero by Jane Clark

"THIS IS MY LITTLE BROTHER FINN," GILBERT THE GREAT WHITE SHARK PROUDLY TOLD HIS FRIEND RITA REMORA.

"MOM SAYS HE CAN COME TO THE PARK WITH US. WE CAN TEACH HIM ALL OUR GAMES."

"BUT HE'S TOO SMALL..." SAID RITA. "HE'LL RUIN EVERYTHING!"

And Finn is too small and too young for Gilbert's and Rita's usual fun. He's too light to hold down his end of the see-saw. He can't catch a ball, much less the huge sea urchin shell Gilbert tosses at him. Rita grumbles her I told you so, and hints that she might try to find someone else to play with if Gilbert is going to be stuck baby-sitting all day. Finally, Gilbert parks little Finn in the seaweed swing, securing him so that he can't follow them, and giving him a great big push to set him going happily.

Gilbert and Rita take turns "skating" on an obliging sting ray who zooms by, and for the moment everyone is happy.

Just then Gilbert spots something that can turn even a young great white pale--an enormous KILLER WHALE! Rita scoots for safety, but Gilbert knows that his little brother, fastened in the seaweed swing, is the tasty little appetizer that the big killer whale now has on his menu. Can Gilbert the Great save Finn?

Jane Clark's and Charles Fuge's third entry into the Gilbert series, Gilbert the Hero (Sterling, 2011), makes good use of Fuge's noted artistic talents in his appealing deep-sea illustrations of Gilbert's world, which give the venerable story of the older sibling rising to the challenge of rescuing a young one from danger a new twist. Other books in the series are Gilbert the Great and Gilbert in Deep.