Storm Child

Written by Ele Fountain ( Pushkin Children’s)

Age 9-12

An exciting, thought-provoking tween book about a young girl who loves the ocean and learns to take responsibility for herself and navigate her life, from the prize-winning author of Boy 87.

Maya Penrose has saltwater running in her veins. She’s the best surfer for miles, living a carefree life with her fisherman dad and baker mum and a lovely circle of local friends. But money is running out, and businessmen are after their family land.

When her dad loses his fishing boat in a terrible storm, her parents make the impulsive decision to start over, travelling to the other side of the world, where they can teach sailing and diving and Maya can be home-schooled.

The only problem is life on a tropical island isn’t always paradise. For starters, there’s no surfing waves and the jobs her parents thought were a sure thing, seem to be less secure than they had hoped. Maya keeps her head up even though her friends back home seem to be moving on without her and the only local friend she can find is mysteriously aloof and unfriendly.

Maya’s love of the sea keeps her going and when she discovers that the girl, Kalani, has a small sailing boat, the two bond. Meanwhile her parents seem to be jumping from job to job and nothing feels secure. When another storm nearly takes her life, Maya has to learn how to navigate all the changes and guide her family to their future.

It’s a heartwarming, authentic story. Modern issues of climate change, sustainability and family debt are woven into the story, enabling young readers to comprehend adult issues in an appropriate manner.

It takes a while to get started, but half way through by book two, you are invested in Maya’s new life.

About the author:

Ele Fountain worked as an editor in children’s publishing where she was responsible for launching and nurturing the careers of many prize-winning and bestselling authors.

She lived in Addis Ababa for several years, where she was inspired to write Boy 87, her debut novel. Ele lives in what she describes as a ‘not quite falling down house’ in Hampshire with her husband, two young daughters and lots of spiders and a stripey gingery cat that thinks he’s a tiger.