Swimming With Seals

Maggie De Vries

Apr 2018 · Orca Book Publishers

About this ebook

Ally isn't able to live with her mother. Instead she lives far, far away, on the other side of the country, with her gram and great-aunt. But one summer Ally goes to stay with her aunt and uncle in the "big city by the ocean" and gets to spend time with her mom. While exploring the shore, watching whales from the boat dipping into the salty water, Ally finds out something important: her mother loves to swim as much as she does.

This is a very personal story. Ally is based on the author’s niece, Jeanie, and Ally's mother is based on the author's sister, Sarah, who went missing from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver in 1998. Jeanie is like a seal in the water, and Sarah was just the same, but they never got to swim together. In this story, they do. Swimming with Seals is a story that was written for the thousands of children who long to live with their birth parents and will never fully understand why they can't.

About the author

Maggie de Vries is the author of many books for children and one book for adults. She teaches in the Creative Writing Program at UBC, runs writing workshops, and coaches and mentors writers. Maggie now lives in Ladysmith, British Columbia, on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

Janice Kun was an award-winning illustrator whose work had a distinctive multimedia blend of drawing, collage, digital and photographic elements. Her organic constructions reflected the dynamic energy of nature, combined with the lyricism of music and found street art. Janice's work appeared in magazine editorials, postage stamps, book covers and advertising campaigns.