The Sea in Winter by Christine Day featured at National Book Festival
Each year we have the fabulous opportunity to select a book for children by a Washington author to represent our state at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., and we’re thrilled that this year’s selection is The Sea in Winter by Christine Day!
This evocative and heartwarming novel about a Native American girl has a deep connection to the setting of Washington state. Maisie, who is Makah and Piscataway, is a passionate ballet dancer with a knee injury that’s taking her away from her friends and the things she loves best. Maisie’s anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean? A family trip to Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula leads Maisie to explore more about her Makah ancestors, community, family, and friends.
Publishers Weekly said “The Sea in Winter” is “a contemplative and emotional story of resilience and reinvention whose dedication sums it up well: ‘To Anyone who needs a reminder that pain is temporary.’” The book is a Junior Library Guild selection and was an Indie Kids’ Next List selection for independent book stores.
Christine Day (Upper Skagit) grew up in Seattle, nestled between the sea, the mountains, and the pages of her favorite books. Her debut novel, “I Can Make This Promise,” was a best book of the year from Kirkus, School Library Journal, NPR, and the Chicago Public Library, as well as a Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book, and an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book. “The Sea in Winter,” published in 2021 by Heartdrum/Harper Collins, is her second novel. Her third book, “She Persisted: Maria Tallchief,” will be published in November 2021 by Philomel Books.
Christine is featured in a video with authors from other states during the National Book Festival, Sept. 17 to Sept. 26, 2021. See our Sea in Winter page for a bookmark for this fabulous book!
National Book Festival panel discussion: