The tiny fishing community of Deeper Harbour is in serious trouble, and so is fourteen-year-old Roland MacTavish. His parents are separated, and his mother has just told him that she's moving to Ottawa and taking him with her. She doesn't think Deeper Harbour, with its closing school and dismal economic future, has anything to offer her and Roland anymore. But Roland disagrees. He loves his father, his weird friend Dulsie, and most of all, his wild, hilarious, unpredictable grandfather, Angus. So with the help of his friends, he does what any rational teenager would do: he invents a sea monster.

News of the monster spreads, until real live tourists start to turn off the new highway and visit Deeper Harbour, giving everyone hope that the town may actually be resuscitated. But before he can celebrate his successes, Roland faces a sadness that goes far beyond separated parents and new cities, and finally discovers that change, however frightening, is not the most painful thing in the world.

Steve Vernon learned the storytelling tradition from his grandfather. As part of the Writers in the Schools program he now teaches this tradition to Nova Scotia children in schools across the province. His books include The Lunenburg Werewolf, the children's picture book Maritime Monsters, and the YA novel Sinking Deeper. Steve has lived in Nova Scotia for nearly forty years. Visit his website at www3.ns.sympatico.ca/stevevernon

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• Short-listed, Shortlisted for Hackmatack for English Fiction