MEET & GREET AUTHOR SHARON MENTYKA
After School Thursday, October 20 & Friday, October 21
CHASING AT THE SURFACE
by
Sharon Mentyka
Author Sharon Mentyka will visit San Juan Island schools to present her novel for middle readers, Chasing at the Surface, on October 20 & 21. She will be on hand to sign books at Griffin Bay Bookstore after school on both days. Her debut novel is sure to captivate island youngsters.
Chasing at the Surface tells a poignant story about a young girl’s efforts to find her way home. She learns it takes more than courage—it takes a leap of faith. After her mother unexpectedly leaves home, twelve-year old Marisa struggles with her feelings of loss and abandonment just as a pod of nineteen orca whales—mothers with their new calves following a run of chum salmon—become trapped in the enclosed inlet near her Northwest home. Can Marisa find a way to free the whales even if it means facing the secrets in her mother's past?
A wonderful book that weaves an exciting and mysterious story about families and whales.
–Susan Berta, Co-founder, Orca Network
A beautifully written story of how one girl's connection to the wonder of nature's wild orcas helps her save both them and herself from life's perils.
–Mary Ruckelshaus, Managing Director, Natural Capital Project Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
About the Author
Sharon Mentyka is a writer and teacher with an MFA from the Whidbey Writers Workshop. Her stories and essays for both children and adults have appeared in numerous literary magazines. Chasing at the Surface, her debut novel for middle grade readers, was inspired by an actual event that occurred in Dyes Inlet, Washington.
