Enchanted Everglades: Friend for Life

by G A Kowatch, Tim Shinn (Illustrator)

Overview

"With its imaginative tapestry of adventurous humans, anthropomorphized creatures, and well-paced action, Enchanted Everglades will please middle-grade readers. But its poignant lessons could also draw teachers or mentors interested in sharing the importance of finding peace within both nature and ourselves." ~ BlueInk Review, starred review

"Tween readers (and their parents and teachers) will love the values, hardships, laughs, and learning in Kowatch's thoughtful adventure fantasy." ~ Booklife Reviews

"Enchanted Everglades wraps positive lessons about friendship, being yourself, and ecological awareness into its entertaining adventure."

~ Foreword Clarion Reviews

"Readers who enjoy a blend of realism and fantasy are sure to be drawn to this adventurous story of loss, forgiveness, and mindfulness."

~ The Children's Book Review

"The rich descriptions of wildlife ecosystems make this book worth reading by all audiences . . . the action does have a cartoonish, made-for-TV feel that makes it most suitable for middle-grade readers." ~ Kirkus Review

Twelve-year-old OCEAN RIVER is a goofy kid. He's never met a problem he couldn't solve with a joke or a silly dance. When his best friend, ELLEN HANSEN, loses her father, life suddenly gets a lot more serious, and Ocean's immature antics at the funeral threaten to ruin their friendship forever.

Just a few miles away, in the swampy jungle of the Everglades, another young boy named GUMBO struggles with his born destiny. This boy just happens to be an alligator, the heir to the great gator kingdom. Not only is Gumbo reluctant to be a leader, but his father, the king, has ordered him to kill several pythons by the next day. The problem is Gumbo's a pacifist. And a vegan. And, oh, deathly afraid of snakes.

Gumbo and his best friends, BIX, a naïve, cheerful soft-shelled turtle, and their guru, ASHA, a wise old wood stork who's teaching Gumbo yoga, reluctantly set off on their mission. Meanwhile, the humans are on a mission of their own: a family vacation to the Everglades, Ellen's belated birthday gift, holds the hope of saving Ocean and Ellen's friendship. When a tour boat crash leaves the kids lost and alone in the gator-infested swamp, they receive animal superpowers from a legendary Seminole Indian ghost. Now they can talk to animals, including Gumbo, and it seems like getting lost together was just what they needed.

Except, of course, for the giant mutant python who has serious plans for dinner . . . and revenge.

In this funny and heartwarming fantasy set in the fragile ecosystems of the Everglades, Ocean and Ellen and their new animal friends learn how to let go of the past and trust each other in the present, where forgiveness and empathy-even for killer pythons-might just save the day.

Please visit EnchantedEverglades website to read and listen to five chapters before you purchase. Thank you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733518420
Publisher:	Great Rays, LLC
Publication date:	08/28/2020
Series:	Enchanted Everglades , #1
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.65(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

G. A. KOWATCH lived in South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines before going home to the US at the age of thirteen. She has degrees in both design and business. Her first short film, The Right Friend, garnered several niche festival awards and was distributed by Spiritual Cinema Circle. Gail is an avid fan of movies, especially animation, comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, and romance. This is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

04/27/2020

Filmmaker Kowatch brings larger-than-life characters and action scenes to middle grade readers in this highly visual mix of literary seriousness and fantasy adventure. Ocean River and Ellen Hansen, both age 12, are best friends—until Ellen’s father dies in a car crash and clumsy Ocean accidentally disrupts his funeral. When their parents take them on a vacation to the Everglades a couple months later, guilt-ridden Ocean isn’t even sure they can be friends again, and Ellen barely speaks to him. But their airboat crashes, and Ocean and Ellen must work together to find their parents and escape the dangerous swamp. On their journey they acquire supernatural talents and befriend an eccentric wood stork, a guileless soft-shell turtle, and Gumbo, a yoga-practicing, pacifist alligator who’s next in line to become king of the Everglades.

Kowatch’s descriptions and Shinn’s charming digital illustrations will leave readers feeling like they’ve stomped through the Everglades alongside Ocean and Ellen. The relationships are depicted with wonderful depth. Gumbo and his pals often meditate together, Ocean and Ellen talk about grief and growing up, Ocean’s parents share important lessons with him, and each character takes turns leading, encouraging, and sacrificing for the others in a way that feels sincere.

Yet all of these elements create a text that is sometimes busy and complicated. Chapters are told from various perspectives and the book blends Seminole mythology with Eastern spiritual practices, which may leave younger readers confused, uninterested, or just wanting more of the lively dialogue. However, the book’s quirkiness and cartoon-style illustrations, as well as its loose ends (perhaps left open for a sequel?), will likely keep them hooked. For kids entering adolescence in the 21st century, an adventure that includes real-life heaviness, environmental awareness and activism, meditation and affirmation, and a little bit of the absurd seems just right.

Takeaway: Tween readers (and their parents and teachers) will love the values, hardships, laughs, and learning in Kowatch’s thoughtful adventure fantasy.

Great for fans of the Magic School Bus series, the Magic Tree House series.

Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A- Illustrations: A- Editing: B Marketing copy: B

BookLife Reviews

2020-04-03
Kowatch combines Everglades ecology, with a tale of survival, friendship, and fantasy in this debut adventure novel for middle-grade readers.

Ocean River and Ellen Hansen, both 12 years old, are inseparable friends. After the untimely death of Ellen’s father, Ocean jeopardizes his bond with her when he accidentally disrupts the funeral. The rift grows until the two find themselves stuck together on vacation with Ellen’s mother and Ocean’s parents in Everglades National Park. When their airboat crashes, the tweens awaken to find themselves on their own, and they must work together to survive. Ocean and Ellen discover that they’re in “a freakish world” where “animals did yoga and chanted with beads, where ghosts and jumbo pythons roamed, [and] where raccoons had strange hairstyles.” Their allies include a peaceful alligator who happens to be a “yogi master” and future king of the Everglades, a baby turtle, a wise wood stork, a fluffy dog, helpful pelicans, fierce dolphins, and a talkative lizard. These friends help them take on a mutant python and his children, scheming “playboy raccoons,” wily river otters, and up-to-no-good ospreys. The kids’ journey winds through exquisitely described swamp ecosystems, subtly distorted by man-made elements, such as global warming, pesticides, escaped exotic pets, and residual engine oil. The rich descriptions of wildlife ecosystems make this book worth reading by all audiences; however, the action does have a cartoonish, made-for-TV feel that makes it most suitable for middle-grade readers. The book’s moral lessons are valid but still feel pat on delivery; for example, Ocean concludes too easily that “I need to live in the present moment and forgive the past, including my mistakes and [Ellen’s].” Still, young readers will benefit from the book’s depictions of forgiveness within friendship, grief, resilience, and teamwork. (The book includes periodic black-and-white illustrations by Shinn that reflect the action of the story.)

A whimsical odyssey featuring a playfully bizarre cast of characters.

Kirkus Reviews

“With its imaginative tapestry of adventurous humans, anthropomorphized creatures, and well-paced action, Enchanted Everglades will please middle-grade readers. But its poignant lessons could also draw teachers or mentors interested in sharing the importance of finding peace within both nature and ourselves.”

~ BlueInk Review, starred review

“Tween readers (and their parents and teachers) will love the values, hardships, laughs, and learning in Kowatch’s thoughtful adventure fantasy.”

~ Booklife Reviews

“Enchanted Everglades wraps positive lessons about friendship, being yourself, and ecological awareness into its entertaining adventure.”

~ Foreword Clarion Reviews

“Readers who enjoy a blend of realism and fantasy are sure to be drawn to this adventurous story of loss, forgiveness, and mindfulness.”

~ The Children's Book Review

“The rich descriptions of wildlife ecosystems make this book worth reading by all audiences . . . the action does have a cartoonish, made-for-TV feel that makes it most suitable for middle-grade readers.”

~ Kirkus Review

From the Publisher