There is so much backstory on the writing and release of this 20th volume of our Adirondack Kids series entitled, The Amazing Migration Vacation! Available now!
After waiting for some five years to write the story so that it fit into the flow of our series, we finally made it to North Carolina’s Outer Banks to do our research. But just several weeks before we were to leave, Hurricane Dorian hit and devastated the region. The location hardest hit? Exactly where we were planning to set the story. Ocracoke Island.
We rearranged travel plans and rearranged the setting for the story. Hatteras Island.
Even though it was several weeks after Dorian, the owner of the cottage on the oceanside told us to bring boots or waders. We did. And we needed them.
So, we explored and did some interviews, including speaking with students at the Hatteras Elementary School about what it was like living on the island.
We also spoke with Gee Gee, owner of Buxton Village Books, who later read the draft for accuracy. All of the generous input was invaluable!
There were also visits to those key locations the characters in the story were to visit: the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (those beach walks were tough but we had to do it!); the tallest brick lighthouse in the world and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.
(thanks to the Beach’s for the Beach fire!)
But we still had to include Ocracoke Island! A central feature of the story was an all-volunteer organization called Ocracats which is dedicated to feeding and caring for the island’s large feral cat population. (Ocracats illustration © Doug Hoover; Scooter © Ocracats )
Enter Rita Thiel, volunteer president of the organization, who we connected with once we were home and who was so kind and generous with her time supplying information and answering questions long distance. We even asked her if she would like to name the Ocracat in the story. The name she came up with was absolutely purrrfect! You will have to read the story to see what it is!
We hope you will join The Adirondack Kids® as they meet some Carolina kids and discover during their Great Migration Vacation how much their two regions have in common!
Click here to order your copy now!
© 2021 Adirondack Kid Press, Ltd.
