City-girl Spinner would rather be in ballet class. Instead, she finds herself standing in a freezing stream in Wyoming landing a huge fish everyone thought extinct in the area. The blend of mystery, nature, and survival is enriched by evolving characters and relationships. This edition is updated with an author's note.

Originally published in 1975 as Hook a Fish, Catch a Mountain, this """"ecomystery"""" investigates an endangered fish. Ages 8-12. (May)

Gr 4-8--More than anything else, 13- year-old Spinner Shatter wants to catch a fish--then she will never have to fish again. Ever. Born into a highly competitive family of fishermen, she would rather be at home in New York City practicing her dance steps than at the family cabin in Jackson Hole, WY. But it is obvious that her father would rather raise a fisher than a dancer. Even his nickname for her, "Spinner," refers to a type of lure. As the story opens, Spinner, in an effort to please her father, is fishing the icy Snake River with little hope of catching anything, let alone winning back the family fishing medal. Her surprise at catching a record-breaking cutthroat trout is nothing compared to the suspenseful adventure that follows as she sets out with her cousin "Alligator" to determine how the rare, large fish came to live in a pool where, by all appearances, it never should have been. Nature's delicate balance is carefully woven into a thoroughly engrossing mystery-adventure. Both Spinner and readers are slowly drawn deeper and deeper into the unfamiliar beauty and power of the natural world. Like the tiny midges that grow up underwater, Spinner emerges with wings and with the understanding that she can be both a fisher and a dancer.--Lisa Wu Stowe, Great Neck Library, NY