Eight-year-old Katrina Simpkins wears a prosthesis or “helper leg” due to a birth defect known as Proximal femoral focal deficiency (PPFA), but she longs to be just a normal girl. Then one day she, her parents, and her older sister Sara visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, FL, which is a home for marine animals that cannot be returned to the wild. There she meets and befriends Winter, a dolphin whose tail was caught in a crab trap line when she was just a few months old and has a prosthetic stump instead of a tail. What important lessons can Katrina learn from Winter? And is there anything that Katrina can do for Winter in return?
This inspiring true story will be especially helpful to children who are having to deal with various kinds of disabilities, but it will be of general interest to young people all over the world as they read how Katrina comes to cope with her difficulties and change her whole life. Award winning author Nancy Stewart, whose four “Bella and Britt” series books for children are bestsellers, has a talent for reaching children with essential life lessons in the most entertaining ways. In addition, there is a lot of useful information about dolphins and the work of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Readers of all ages will take delight in the antics of Winter and will applaud Katrina for the courage that she shows in overcoming a handicap. ( )