Author talks about wading through a sea of words

Many of the students at Holley-Navarre Middle School have read all or some of the 15 books on the Sunshine State Young Reader list. After doing so they voted for their favorite one and chose “The Great Wide Sea,” whose author came to speak to the students last week.

M. H. Herlong, New Orleans resident, is the author of “The Great Wide Sea,” a book about loss and how to cope with it. The story follows a family with three boys who lose their mother. The father decides to cope by selling everything and setting sail with his boys to the Bahamas. From there the story escalates, with the author enticing you with these four lines:

“Once upon a time three boys were lost at sea. One almost drowned. One almost went crazy. One fell off a cliff.”

For more on this story, see the May 5 edition of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.