Dear Reader, Love Nancy Stewart

Dear Reader, 

Have you ever walked along a beach somewhere on this glorious planet and found instant inspiration, an epiphany of sorts?  Well, that is exactly what happened to me one glorious December day seven years ago on Clearwater Beach, Florida.  Right out of the blue, as it were.  Here’s what happened:  Strolling along on wet sand, I came across the outline of a heart.  But what was written inside stopped mine. Only one word. Bella. It became completely clear that I write a book about a beach girl called Bella. And from that bolt of insight, Bella was born.

As sometimes happens, an almost simultaneous incident occurred; this time a terrible one: The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. The entire world was inundated with wrenching photos of once blue water slicked over by deadly oil, birds drenched and weighted down with the deadly stuff, and BP executives spewing invectives about how it was not their fault. And something snapped in me.  I sat down and wrote One Pelican at a Time: A Story of the Gulf Oil Spill.  Not only was Bella the protagonist.  Her best friend Britt joined her in the effort.  And that book began the Bella and Britt beach series. 

My newest offering, Mystery at Manatee Key, is the fourth in the series and features Britt front and center.  It is she alone who must rescue Bella and the ranger from a ring of manatee smugglers.  By now, the series reader is familiar with the ranger, who is warm-hearted and loves all things beachy.  Dwayne Smarr is the bad guy and Britt’s nemesis throughout much of the book.  He is so bad that he’s fun to love to hate.  With kids, black and white rules, and Dwayne has no shades of gray!

Throughout the series, I have tried to infuse a love of and respect for nature and Mother Earth, the only home we humans have at this point in our galaxy.  Without being preachy, it is my hope that in reading the books, children will find a fun story, interesting facts, and a love of learning interwoven throughout the pages.  If all that occurs, I’ve been a successful author and have done my intended job.

About the Author

Nancy Stewart has been an elementary school teacher and a professor of education.  Having lived in London for ten years, she was a consultant to the University of Cambridge. She is the author of the Bella and Britt series picture books and the authorized biography of Katrina Simpkins, a young girl whose life was forever changed by Winter, the dolphin (Guardian Angel Publishing.)  Her writing of One Pelican at a Time was featured on the PBS special, GulfWatch in 2011.  Nancy’s YA-LGBT novel will be published by Interlude Press autumn of 2017.  She is a member of the Rate Your Story organization as a critique judge.

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About the Book:

Title: MYSTERY AT MANATEE KEY
Author: Nancy Stewart
Publisher: Guardian Angel Publishing
Pages: 36
Genre: Children’s Picture Book

Bella and Britt love to explore along the beach and at more remote places like Manatee Key as well.  It is there that they discover a manatee smuggling ring. 

The manatees have already been netted, so the girls must act fast!  But a kidnapper snatches Bella, hustling her into their hideout.  When Britt sneaks a look in the window, she discovers that the ranger is being held, too.  Now it’s up to Britt.  But what can a single girl do?

Mystery at Manatee Key is available at Amazon