“Where the sky and the sea meet the shore, there is a home.”

- From Flitt’s Call

The Sea that Sings to Me Book Cover by Kara Griffin, Illustrated by Marla Lesage
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The Sea That Sings To Me

Available now with Acorn Press!

Picture book for ages 4-8. Illustrated by Marla Lesage.

In this enchanting story, a girl with a special gift is called each day to the shore where she hears the secret music of the sea. With lyrical words and beautiful illustrations, this story is an ode to the special connection we have with the natural world.

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  • The Sea that Sings to Me by Kara Griffin is a charming parable about the opening of hearts to the magic of the music of the sea. An Island girl has the ability to hear the myriad melodies and harmonies of the ocean in all its moods, while those around her are so engaged in or distracted by the noise of modern life that they cannot hear the songs of the sea until a storm knocks out the power of the seaside town.

    Deirdre Kessler, author of Lobster in My Pocket

  • Put a conch to an ear and listen to the ocean. We can all hear it. But what if we could hear the rest of the music the sea sings? Kara Griffin's captivating book The Sea That Sings To Me introduces us to an Island girl who has the gift of knowing the ocean's secrets through its music. This is no flippant talent. If we could remember what it was like to be a child, purely open to the world's mystery and magic, maybe we would hear the sea sing too. The girl wonders why only she hears the sea's music and tries to unlock the secret. Come along and find out. Sea song awaits.

    Catherine Edward, author of The Whither Poems

  • Kara Griffin’s The Sea That Sings To Me brings us the delightful story of a little Island girl who can hear the song of the sea, ultimately finding friendship through a shared love for its music. More than just an enchanting lark along the shore, this story is an urgent reminder of the magic that can all too easily be missed amid the din of constant noise and distraction where so many have lost the knack of listening to the natural world. Marla Lesage’s lighthearted but expressive illustrations carry us along to the ocean with orchestral storms and gentler melodies adding light and shadow to the story’s lovely dance.

    Juror comments, Finalist, Prince Edward Island Book Award for Children’s Literature (2024)

  • Gentle, dreamy text with magic lurking around the corners. Details of living by the ocean are both an ode to, and celebration of, being one with nature.

    Juror comments, The Sea That Sings To Me, Island Literary Awards (2021)

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Flitt’s Call

Available now with Acorn Press!

Picture book for ages 4-8. Illustrated by K. Shawn Larson.

Flitt is a little bank swallow who returns to his beloved Prince Edward Island every spring to nest in the same seaside cliffs. But this year, things are different. The land has changed, he can't find as many insects to eat, and there are fewer swallows to play with. When his chicks are born, Flitt realizes he needs to teach his little swallows, all the swallows, a special call. Flitt's Call is a bank swallow's prayer and plea for the planet. It will open people's hearts, move others to protect the land, and remind everyone of our shared connection to this fragile, beautiful home called Earth.

A project in partnership with Island Nature Trust (INT) and supported by the PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being. This book features one of the Island’s species-at-risk, the bank swallow. By engaging young Islanders in nature and story-telling, this project promotes connection, creativity, mental well-being and resilience in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss. Flitt’s Call Activity Guide, developed by INT, accompanies the book. Royalties from the sale of the book and the guide will support Island Nature Trust.

  • Humans are hardly the only species which migrates to and from Prince Edward Island. Bank swallows are the honored species in Flitt’s Call, written with ornithological precision and narrative flare by Kara Griffin, and the habitat is the Island’s cliffs, shores, and skies, warmly illustrated by K. Shawn Larson. Flitt and his companions return to their ancestral birthplace to find a baffling scarcity of swallows, startling cliff erosion and strange black rocks heaped on the shore. Griffin and Larson skillfully lead us from the swallows’ joyous return to the perils of climate change and habitat destruction. Graceful storytelling is beautifully braided with the ecological warning and inspiration. Despairing at first, Flitt revives when he finds his nesting place, and with his mate Maud, teaches their offspring and other swallows the call of hope -- where a calling births a guardian and where a guardian becomes a voice for the land. The swallows depart at summer’s end and Flitt’s Call leaves us with buoyant hope and uplifted purpose.

    Juror comments, Finalist, Prince Edward Island Book Award for Children’s Literature (2024)

  • Poignant story brings readers into heart, mind and soul of a swallow looking for his summer home. Unique way of showing children what happens when animal’s habitat is disturbed.

    Juror comments, Flitt’s Call, The Heirs of LM Montgomery Literature for Children Award, Island Literary Awards (2022)

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Owl

Coming fall 2025 with Acorn Press!

Picture book for ages 4-8. Illustrated by K. Shawn Larson.

The boy’s grandfather had long told him about the barred owl that lives in the oldest part of the forest near his home. Determined to meet Owl, the boy visits the forest everyday and gently calls to her. But owls sleep during the day and are awake at night when children are sound asleep. Will the boy ever see Owl from the old forest? This heartfelt story about a child’s search for an elusive owl illustrates that when we connect with nature, we are surrounded by love, though we might not always see it.

Told with gentle text and naturalistic artwork, young readers will discover a boy’s tender bond with an owl, and they too will learn how to make the barred owl’s call, fostering a lifelong love and relationship with nature.