sci-fi/fantasy possible YA book about space travel. read 25 years ago

[Nathan]

Read it as a kid. I don't remember much except it had a teenager as the protagonist and there was an alien race that was teaching Earth humans Faster than light travel, there was someone studying sharks and there was some alien creature that was almost monkey-like and a sidekick. The protagonist became a stoy away and went into space and ended up on a space station and then another alien planet? sorry for the vagueness. it was a while ago... I loved it as a kid though.

[Michele]

Not a 100% match, but perhaps Childhood's End? For sure the stowaway part is there, also the alien race teaching humans things.

[Nathan]

Thanks for the suggestion but that wasn't it.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Bump. Nathan is still looking for this book.

I read this book late 80s, early 90s. It was about a teenager from earth who is then on an adventure in space. I remember there's an alien side kick as well as in the early parts of the book when on Earth there's scientists talking about sharks and how they need to keep moving to stay alive. An alien race had given Earth the ability to travel faster than light. The boy went to space and visited a few planets/space stations.

[Nathan]

thanks Lobstergirl. I couldn't remember if I had already asked or not.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No problem. An easy way to see all your old posts is to hover over your avatar next to one of your posts, click on "see comment history." Also useful over on the right on the page that comes up is "topics created by (username)."

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Nathan, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Nathan]

Still haven’t found it...

[Unspiritedaway]

Maybe the pride of chanur? feauters a human stowaway and there is an apelike alien race.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Nathan]

Ensign, that sounds similar. Let me check it out.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Still looking? Or was "The Pride of Chanur" your book?

[Nathan]

I haven't had a chance to check out Pride of Chanur yet.

[bookel]

Free to borrow https://openlibrary.org/search?q=Prid...
No mention of keyword sharks, though ...

[Ky]

And they aren't on Earth at any point in Pride of Chanur.

This description seems familiar, though; I'll have to think about it a bit.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Still looking now?

[Sue]

Space Winners by Gordon Dickson? At the start, a teen boy is working in a facility, and is "walking" a sedated shark to keep water flowing through it's gills. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...