• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: k to 3
• Reading age: 4 to 8

Inspired by a true story, Rocky Waters is about a young boy who wants nothing more than to fish for lobster with his dad.

All day at school, Rocky stares out the window, imagining fishing boats sailing across the sky. He wants nothing more than to fish for lobster with his dad, and finally one season he’s old enough to go along.

Before dawn, Rocky, Dad and sister Patsy untie their boat and head out to sea. Surrounded by the vast expanse of sky and water, Rocky feels as free as a seagull. His dad steers toward their first buoy, then pulls up a line of traps full of lobster. Rocky learns how to band their claws, then Patsy rebaits the traps and shoves them back into the sea. It takes a full day to haul up, empty, rebait and re-set three hundred traps, but Rocky loves every minute of it. “If the salt’s still in your veins when you’re Patsy’s age, you can leave school and fish all you want,” his dad tells him.

Anne Laurel Carter’s story is inspired by the childhood memories of Rocky Gaudet, who grew up wanting to fish the sea like his Acadian ancestors. He continues to fish for lobster in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia today. Marianne Dumas’ naïve watercolor illustrations recall Rocky’s first fishing experience.

Key Text Features
author’s note
glossary

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

Anne Laurel Carter was born in Don Mills, Ontario. She has suffered from a bad case of wanderlust all of her life, which has taken her all over the world. In between travelling, Anne completed Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education. Anne loves working with children, and became an ESL and French teacher. She is also the mother of four children, but still finds time to read and write. Anne currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she works full-time as a teacher-librarian.
Anne is a multi award-winning author of several books for children. Her picturebook Under a Prairie Sky (Orca, 2004) won the Mr. Christie's Book Award in 2003.

Anne Laurel Carter's profile page

Marianne Dumas: Il était une fois une petite fille avec des longs cheveux bruns tressés, des taches de rousseur et des yeux d’un bleu perçant remplis d’espoir et d’imagination. Elle rêvait d’écrire des livres, d’enseigner les arts et d’être “dompteuse de cirque”. Aujourd’hui, elle est enseignante, elle se crée tout un cirque et… elle écrit son premier livre!

Marianne Dumas' profile page

Carter strikes a splendid balance in character development … Background and cultural information are seamlessly woven into the narrative …

School Library Journal

Information-packed but never didactic … Fluid writing and straightforward storytelling make this a pleasure to read … Thoughtful and engaging.

Kirkus, starred review