Trigger warnings: Death of a child, grief and loss depiction

Might be a very sad book...
Update: 7/10, this was a rather interesting book but it left me wanting to say one thing, "Why?" In the beginning there were two twin brothers, Jamie and Ned but Ned had cystic fibrosis, some people with that condition go on to live long lives but some do not so I could see where this was going. I didn't realise this was set in the 1980s until the book told me some events that happened, the pop culture, and the people, the twin brothers even had to be homeschooled because Ned's condition was too much to handle for his family so their lives were very different to the lives of people who go to school. The brothers' grandfather told them some interesting stories about pirates and merpeople and it was a juxtaposition that the grandfather was a captain who lived on the sea whereas the father was a quarryman who lived on dry land.

They discover some sort of creature whom they named Leonard but they had to let go eventually but Ned was not ready to part with him yet so he tried to dive off the cliff into the ocean to find him again but a person called Officer Taylor saved him. Later on Ned was in the hospital and then he left a note and went off when no one was watching and he was never found and presumed dead which was very saddening and even a funeral was held for him but eventually Jamie learns to let go. I've read a lot of books about grief and this one was quite sad but I couldn't really connect to the characters due to the basic writing style perhaps. If you like a sad story which is also an urban fantasy this is the book for you, it's such a shame that this book is this obscure, more people should read this book. ( )

I'm not sure how kids will respond to this. Twin brothers find a creature in the sea -- is it some form of merman? One, Ned, has cystic fibrosis and is dying. The creature, who he names Leonard, seems to be there for him but in a good way. Jamie, the other brother, isn't so sure and wants the creature to go away unless he can cure Ned. But Ned realizes that he can't be cured, but he can have one last adventure. ( )