A CRACK IN THE SEA

An enchanting middle grade historical fantasy-adventure perfect for fans of Thanhha Lai's award-winning Inside Out and Back Again.

This is a story that has no beginning but starts in three ways. First, a young boy with an incredible gift--he can speak to fish--is kidnapped and taken to a faraway land. The people in Raftworld have been drifting for years, but with Pip's help they hope to finally find their way home. The Raft King has a desperate plan to use Pip's gift to find the doorway back, but Pip's sister Kinchen is determined to stop the Raft King and rescue her brother. Then we meet Venus and Swimmer, captured twins onboard the Zong slave ship, which is bound for Jamaica in 1781.

The siblings hatch a risky, magical plan to save themselves and others from a life of enslavement--a plan that leads them from the shark-infested waters of the first world to the second. Two hundred years later, in 1976, we meet Thanh and his sister Sang on a boat trying to escape life in post-war Vietnam. But after a storm and pirates attack, they're not sure they'll ever see shore again. What brings Pip, Kinchen, Venus, Swimmer, Thanh and Sang together in the end is a very special portal, A CRACK IN THE SEA.

A CRACK IN THE SEA will feature 16 stunning interior illustrations by internationally renowned artist Yuko Shimizu, depicting the three interwoven storylines and the journey to find the portal between the two worlds.

H. M. Bouwman is the author of The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap (Marshall Cavendish, 2008), which received a star from Kirkus Reviews and was featured in their "Best of 2008" issue. An associate professor of English at the University of St. Thomas, she lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her two sons. A CRACK IN THE SEA is her second novel.