Spineless, by Samantha San Miguel, cover art by Jamie Green!
coming June 7 from Union Square Kids
This exciting middle-grade adventure is Hoot for the Gilded Age—with scientific discoveries, secret plots, and surprisingly enormous fauna.
When his asthma lands him at a health resort in the wilds of Gilded Age South Florida, twelve-year-old Algie Emsworth is over the moon. The scientific treasure trove of unexplored swamps may launch his dream career as a naturalist. But even Algie is startled when he happens upon a brand-new species and her brood in the karst springs surrounding the resort. Algie quickly realizes he must keep his discovery a secret: a famous collector of exotic animals is also staying at the hotel, and the new species is threatened by his very presence. An apparent curse has also descended upon the hotel, bringing with it a deadly red tide. But when the pool starts filling with ink and guests start getting mysterious, sucker-shaped wounds, Algie must pluck up his courage to find the truth about the goings-on at the Grand Hotel—and save the new species from destruction.
Samantha San Miguel grew up on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Living sandwiched between ocean and estuary gave her a wholehearted respect for wildlife, especially the kind that can eat you. She's spent countless hours scanning for sea monsters, but the only ones she's spotted so far have been in her imagination.
From Sam:
As a kid I loved books about sea monsters, but got frustrated when the cover promised super cool creatures while the story only delivered a few pages of creature screen time at the very end. When it came to writing my own story, I made sure to fill it with the many real and imaginary animals of my home state, Florida. I'm thrilled with the care that artist Jamie Green took to highlight that in the cover design for SPINELESS. I know they say don't judge a book by its cover, but in this case be my guest!
From me:
What a great cover! I love the Gilded Age details meets tentacle aesthetic, and am looking forward to this one lots! I've just added it to my Goodreads tbr list
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I do love that cover! Makes me think of The Reptile Room or Malamander... will keep an eye out for it.
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