Manatee Summer

In this poignant middle grade contemporary debut that New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate calls “by turns heartbreaking and heart-healing,” Evan Griffith beautifully captures all the tenderness and uncertainty that come with caring for family, friends, and the natural world. Peter and his best friend, Tommy, have a goal for their last summer before middle school: finish their Discovery Journal, a catalog of the wildlife around their Florida town. When they spot a manatee in a canal, Peter knows they’ve found something special—and when the manatee is injured by a boat, something to protect! As Peter joins the fight to save Florida manatees, he also finds himself taking care of his ailing grandfather and facing an unwelcome surprise that jeopardizes his friendship with Tommy. Soon Peter is adrift, navigating shifting tides and realizing that he has as much to discover about himself as he does about the world around him.

Tracings: 99.07.

This is a collection of papers presented at a 1992 technical workshop on manatee population biology, sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Department of Natural Resources. Topics covered include manatee research programs, techniques for studying manatee population biology, and reports of completed studies. The book concludes with recommendations from the workshop and a brief synopsis of pertinent work that has been published since the workshop.