NO MATTER THE DISTANCE

A girl with cystic fibrosis is given hope when she develops a bond with a stranded dolphin in this poignant novel in verse by beloved author Cindy Baldwin.

When Penny Rooney is assigned to write a poem about herself, she's stumped. She thinks of herself as half of a whole with her best friend, Cricket - until she's blindsided by the news that Cricket is moving away. Nothing is going right. But when Penny and her sister are swimming in the creek behind their house, Penny sees something impossible: a dolphin. Penny names the dolphin Rose, and she feels an immediate connection. Then at the end of spring break, Penny's cystic fibrosis begins to flare up. The only thing that reassures her is her bond with Rose, who is also sick - she was diagnosed with pneumonia by a local marine biologist and is given antibiotics not unlike those Penny inhales every day in her nebulizer. As much as Penny takes solace in her connection to Rose, Penny might also be the only person who can get Rose back to her pod. The longer Rose lingers in the river creek, the worse her illness gets and the more danger she's in. Will Penny be able to do what's right, even if it means losing Rose?

Cindy Baldwin is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Where the Watermelons Grow (an Indies Introduce title, Indie Next selection, and Oregon Spirit Book Award Honor), Beginners Welcome, and The Stars of Whistling Ridge. She lives just outside Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter.