A new book from Dover author Kathleen Marie Doyle is now available.
It's called Blue's River and Doyle says it has the St. Jones River and Silver Lake as its backdrop.
“You know there are a number of things that inspired this story. My kids used to swim at Silver Lake and - 20 years ago - 25 years ago - and when they closed the lake to swimming and when the signs about no fishing started popping up, I was really distressed by that - I wanted to understand it more.”
Doyle says that curiosity - coupled with her almost daily walks through Silver Lake Park and noticing the beautiful Great Blue Herons - planted the seed for this book.
She notes Blue’s River is the story of a 10-year-old girl named Andie Grove who makes friends with a Great Blue Heron name Old Blue and their quest to save the St. Jones River and Silver Lake.
Doyle feels it’s a story “for everyone,” “I like to think of it kind of - like I think of Sesame Street you know. Sesame Street’s obviously for a children’s audience but grownups just delight in it; it’s so much fun. So I wrote it with children in mind; it’s really geared towards 3rd through 6th graders Although a little 7-year old recently told me he loved it and now he’s making his whole family read it.”
Doyle - a former social studies teacher - says the book offers “diving deeper” sections after each chapter for people to learn more about the history and environmental issues covered. She also offers a teacher’s guide for the book at her website.
