Kids into books: Call of the Selkie

Author: Jean Bennett

Illustrator: Shawn Shea

Publisher: Shortland Publications, $10.95

Age group: 9 - 13 years


Ryan smiled as a snore like an old man's came from the animal.

Ryan watched the mother and her baby for a long time. the sun was low in the sky when he retraced his steps around the point and climbed the bank to the opening in the cliff leading towards home. He had a warm feeling inside when he thought of the birth he had just witnessed.

he wanted to share the news with Cilla, but she would be unable to resist telling other people. The mother seal and her pup needed privacy. There was only one person he could trust.

The following Saturday morning, after his father had gone to the office "just to catch up", Ryan worked with his mother in the family's overgrown garden.

Still angry from a sharp exchange with Ryan's father, she slammed a spade into the compacted ground, loosening the soil around clumps of weeds, then grasped them at their base and tipped them out.

Ryan and his mother worked together in silence, with only an occasional grunt as one of them did battle with a particularly stubborn weed.

Now and then, Ryan glanced at his mother, noticing the tight lien of her lips soften as the physical effort and the smell of freshly turned soil eased her tension.