Twelve-year-old Iris and her grandmother, both deaf, fly from Texas to California and then take a cruise ship to Alaska-- armed with Iris's plan to help Blue-55, a whale unable to communicate with other whales.

"Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she's known. She's a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself--and about the humans who hope to save her"--