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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!
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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.
Praise for Manatee Summer
“With humor and real emotion in satisfying balance, Griffith tells the story of a boy dealing with a lot of change—in his family, his friendships, and in himself. The mysterious power of the natural world and Peter’s relationship with it through Tommy and Papa brings additional dimension and beauty to this affecting novel.”—Sara Zarr, author of National Book Award finalist Story of a Girl

Evan Griffith is the author of the middle-grade novels Manatee Summer and The Strange Wonders of Roots (both Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections) and the picture book biographies Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist and Wild at Heart: The Story of Olaus and Mardy Murie, Defenders of Nature. His books have received multiple starred reviews and been recognized as Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, National Science Teachers Association Best Stem Books, and Chicago Public Library’s Best Informational Books for Younger Readers.
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Evan studied creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his MFA in Writing for Children at the Vermont College of Fine Arts where he now serves as faculty. He worked for several years as an editor at Workman Publishing in New York City, where he specialized in non-fiction for children and adults, and he continues to take on select editorial projects. He often teaches online writing classes and enjoys mentoring writers of all ages.
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He lives in Austin, Texas with a mischievous tuxedo cat and several overflowing bookshelves.