ocean
— A girl on a manatee tour in Crystal River struggles with the ethics of wildlife tourism, choosing not to alert her group when she encounters a manatee alone.
— A girl races into the ocean on a hot day, gets tumbled by a surprise second wave, and makes her friend laugh with silly antics on the beach.
— A prose poem traces the precise moment when ocean and sky merge at twilight, finding that exact blue-black in the speaker's own eyes.
— A boat journey brings memories of a grandfather as dolphins appear, blending present observation with past experiences on the water.
— A boy joins his marine biologist father on a rescue mission to free a bottlenose dolphin trapped in fishing nets fourteen miles off the California coast.
— After his parents' divorce, Jasper struggles to adjust to life with his mother until he finds solace at a dock by the sea and learns a hard truth from his...
— A girl loses her cherished bracelet in the ocean and learns to value her cousin's happiness over material possessions when she imagines a fish wearing it.
— A young poet maps her beloved seaside town through sensory details — from a whale door knocker to turquoise wharfs to sailboats floating like butterflies.
— A girl whose family is fragmenting befriends her silent cousin by creating a mechanical dancing bird that mirrors the shorebirds they both love.
— Sisters collect shells and sea glass at the beach, but discover the treasures lose their magic when brought home, separated from ocean and memory.