Mary Beth Owens was inspired by her
admiration and concern for these critically endangered animals to write and
illustrate this beautiful book. The narrator-a craggy, ancient jumby tree that
stands sentinel over the bay-observes a hawksbill's arrival by night, her
arduous trek to excavate a nest and bury her eggs, her solitary return to the
sea, and the later diaspora of her hatchlings. Spare prose complements pages
saturated with Caribbean color or brooding in ghostly moonlight.

MARY BETH OWENS (Newcastle, ME) is an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books, among them Panda Whispers, Caribou Alphabet, Counting Cranes, and Be Blest: A Celebration of Seasons. She incorporates her passion for the natural world with her enthusiasm for children's books and teaching art. Research trips have taken her to study caribou in northern Maine, whooping cranes in New Mexico and Texas, sea turtles in Antigua, and marsupials in Australia.