The Line Tender
MASL Book Trailer Winner
The Line Tender - Chloe O. from Marshfield Junior High
About the Author
Kate Allen lives in Minneapolis with her family. She likes to cook, look for living things in tide-pools with her sons, and try to make my family laugh.
Kate knew she wanted to be a writer from a young age . She grew up in Massachusetts. Growing up she was constantly telling stories and sharing them. They may be about her fake baby brother, "Bimbo" or her aunt's turkey meatballs. She found happiness in making ordinary things funny. It wasn't until high school,with the help from some incredible teachers, that she found her voice. Participating in an all girls writing class helped her to cultivate her craft.
Kate finally decided to put her journal writing and ideas into her fist novel, "The Line Tender."
About the Book
Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart's marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data, when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then Lucy and her father have done okay--thanks in large part to her best friend, Fred, and a few close friends and neighbors. But June of her twelfth summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a great white--and then another tragedy, cutting short a friendship everyone insists was "meaningful", but no one can tell Lucy what it all meant.
To survive the fresh wave of grief, Lucy must grab the line that connects her depressed father, a stubborn fisherman, and a curious old widower to her mother's unfinished research. If Lucy can find a way to help this unlikely quartet follow the sharks her mother loved, she'll finally be able to look beyond what she's lost and toward what's left to be discovered.
Funny, poignant, and deeply moving, The Line Tender is a story of nature's enduring mystery and the people willing to seek meaning and connection within it.
Praise for The Line Tender
A National Bestseller
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2019
A Kirkus Best Book of 2019
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2019
A Book Page Best Book of 2019
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
★Rich, complex, and confidently voiced."—Kirkus Reviews, starred
★"Allen tackles the complexities of grief with subtly wry humor and insight in this richly layered middle grade debut about the power of science and love."—Publishers Weekly, starred
★"There's no art or science to navigating loss, but Allen blends both into a hopeful path forward."—Booklist, starred
★“This book will appeal to just about everyone.” – School Library Connection, starred
★"Allen writes with tenderness and confidence....a classic life-affirming weeper, and readers will pick up some respect for sharks along the sniffling way."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starre
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