Title: ELANORA AND THE SALT MARSH MYSTERY
Author: Kathleen Jae
Publisher: Twenty Paws Publishing
Pages: 213
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction

After a series of terrifying events, Elanora is transported to a strange neighborhood where the only way to get about is by water and the only food to eat is the grasses of the marsh. When she discovers that the water level in her new home is falling, she suspects humans are the cause and puts together a plan to save the creatures who live there.

Will Elanora persuade the colony and swimmers to overcome their fear of the unknown and embark on a dangerous journey to their new home?

CHAPTER ONE

Elanora the Questioner

Dangers
lurk both high and low,

Marauders,
curs, moggies too.

When
darkness comes, we must not go,

And
wait for light’s renew!

Elanora’s mother uttered the verse daily, just as her mother’s mother had
told it to her, so who was Elanora to question it? It gave her shivers when she
heard the serious way her mother told it, as if every menacing creature
mentioned in the verse were waiting just outside their burrow, ready to pounce
on them for daring to leave the safety of their home. The first time her mother
recited it, Elanora was busy studying the stripes on the back of her sister
Vala. All of them had these same stripes, even her mother, but Elanora thought
them quite unnecessary.

“One…two…three…” she counted, poking hard at each line, until her sister
screamed for her to stop. Elanora was quietly scolded, as it was normally a
time for rest. She promised herself to ask her mother about the stripes at
feasting time, for she had an almost vital need to know things.

“Please tell me now—why do we have these silly stripes on our backs?”
Elanora asked her mother this question after they arrived at the edge of a
clearing where the cobbings grew on the popple trees. She pulled a piece of
cobbing from the tree and shoved it in her mouth. Her sisters and brothers
foraged around her, and she had never heard them complain about the ugly and
slimy things. But Elanora thought they tasted like dirt, and their shape
reminded her of the lily pads she had seen in the pond that was not far from
their home. Elanora accepted the tops, but she had long ago rejected the stems
for she thought they made her tummy hurt. At least that is what she told to all
who would listen.

Her mother smiled at Elanora’s question. “Hava has used her wisdom once
again with the creation of our stripes. You noticed they are different colors,
yes?”

Elanora nodded.

“That is so we are one with everything else she has created.”

“But—”

“Look at your brother there,” she directed, pointing to Calum. “You must use
your eyes skillfully to see him among the leaves and the twigs and the ground.”

Elanora tried to observe the scene in an open-minded way and decided that
her mother was right: when Calum was still he seemed to disappear.

Elanora nodded. “I agree, Mother. But if Hava has done this good thing, why
did she also create the defyers—those awful creatures who watch for us and take
us away with their sharp claws?”

Her mother stopped eating and frowned at Elanora. “You are asking too many
questions! We will leave that for another outing!”

She had been told such things before, like when she would ask why the water
fell from the sky or why the brightness left and the darkness arrived at the
same time. She knew her queries annoyed her family, but she could not help
herself. That was why she loved to talk to Damhan. He answered her questions
thoughtfully and always welcomed more.

That eventide, Elanora asked if she might explore the nearby pond the next
brightness, and her mother agreed. Just as the light pushed through the tops of
the trees, Elanora’s mother received a report of a cur wandering near the rock
wall. After securing a promise from her daughter that she would not be away
long, Sorcha gave Elanora permission to leave the nest.

She peeked from the opening of their burrow. Elanora loved the cozy home she
shared with her family, and her mother once told them that she had lived in the
same burrow when she was a youngster. The tiny entrance was at the bottom of a
tall honey tree, and once inside, Elanora had to turn to the right, climb up
two steps, and turn left. A feathered creature had bored a hole through the
bark at this point, and Elanora loved to watch the brightness of the moon push
through the opening and into their burrow, and it was the last thing she saw
before falling asleep. The other part of the burrow, one that Elanora did not
like, was under the ground. Its entrance was just beyond the steps, and the
tunnel that led downward was narrow. They sometimes slept in a nest in one of
the larger pockets, usually after hearing the cries of a moggie.

Dangers
lurk both high and low,

Marauders,
curs, moggies too.

When
darkness comes, we must not go,

And
wait for light’s renew!

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FROM PROMPTING TO SHAPING TO LETTING GO