KIDS DO CARE

Continue reading to learn how you can win this shirt.




Exemplifying this month's tag line:

Intrigue: What really went wrong with the gulf oil rig?

Treachery : “Our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law,” BP said in 2007 before pledging to improve its “risk management.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/business/09bp.html)

Intrepid Teens: Young Olivia Bouler

Since the Gulf Coast oil disaster first broke, I've been mentally paralyzed. How could I post an installment on Bonnie Blogs Green when all I could see was black? My beloved gulf waters were poisoned, creatures by the thousands--members of every major animal class--were dying, good men had been killed in the disaster, and life for hundreds, maybe thousands, of people had been destroyed for a generation or more.

It didn't help the wall of depression when a book blogger wrote a review claiming that kids at her school would never pick up ISLAND STING, a book featuring an environmental club. How much of an adventure/mystery could that be?

Saving the environment? Not an adventurous mystery? On what planet?

Fast forward to a message from ISLAND STING readers who'd been inspired to start an environmental club at their school, then another and another of the same. And yesterday I received a letter from a reader stating, "I also love ISLAND STING because it really shows what a big environmental problem we have to deal with and how kids can help."

And now, in case there are more people like me whose tears have blinded them to any good news, I offer the story of young Olivia Bouler's amazing efforts to save Mother Earth. It just may be my favorite green tween story to date. After you enjoy the video interview, please visit Olivia's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Gulf-Olivias-Bird-Illustrations/102196836492763 You can help no matter your age.

Thank you, Olivia. A wise person once said, "And a little child shall lead them."



I probably should end with an uplifting quote from one of ISLAND STING'S many positive reviews:

Much of the charm of this book is author Doerr's extensive research on the Keys and the deer, which she weaves seamlessly into an action-packed, engaging story. Any residents, visitors, or fans of the Florida Keys will be delighted by the setting, which is almost a character in itself. Doerr masters the "Green Teen" genre by mixing romance, suspense, and humor with current ecological issues. Her upcoming book, STAKEOUT, is sure to follow in this tradition.

In a final bit of good news, ISLAND STING has been chosen as Forsyth County, NC 's online middle school book club read for the month of September. Love it! Encouraging green teens one region at a time.

And now, a giveaway. YAY!!

In celebration of good book news, I'm giving away a class of 2k10 t-shirt (size L) from our debut middle grade and young adult author class trip to BEA (BookExpo America) in New York City. No worries--it's never been worn! Simply enter a comment below for your chance to win the shirt along with a 2k10 bookmark and postcard. Include in your comment the link to a this blog on your Facebook page or Twitter and earn a second chance to win. If no more than 20 comments are made following this post (because lots of folks are on vacation) the contest will roll over to next month. Remember, if you're the lucky winner, I'll have to email you, so if I can't click your comment to find you, please email your address to me. And if at first your comment doesn't post, click the word post a second time.

Remember you can always learn more about ISLAND STING and the Florida Keys at http://bonniedoerrbooks.com/ .

Green Teens' work ignored?

I wasn't ready to post another blog, but when I read this letter in the Key West newspaper, The Citizen, on October 14th I had to share. This news should be headlined, along with other positive environmental news in the Keys such as rescuing wildlife, protecting lobster traps, and releasing rehabilitated sea turtles.

Let's applaud, let's support, let's encourage a new generation of environmentalists. Let's not ignore them. Here is a teen who... Well, read his letter to the editor for yourself.

I'm doing what little I can to get the word out, Heindreck.

Nobody wants to print a positive news story

I am a student currently enrolled in Key West High School's alternative energies program. We recently got a grant to build two wind turbines on campus, which I have started a student movement to name after comedian Stephen Colbert in an attempt to draw attention to our program. We will be the first public high school campus in the country to have wind turbines.


I wish I could say that is the point of my letter; sadly it is not. This past Friday, I spent my entire lunch period collecting signatures for my "student interest form." I ended up getting over half the student body and more than half of the staff. This is despite the problems I have encountered with everybody in the media.


In order to help publicize this event I talked to the teacher in charge of The Snapper, who promised me it would be in the paper. I submitted two tips to The Citizen about our program before that.


It never got in either paper. After the school newspaper came out without my promised article, I submitted yet another news tip to this newspaper and yet again got no reply of any kind. I practically wrote the article for them.


I'm not sure that this should surprise me. After all, an enterprising young high school student trying to gain national attention to his school has nothing to do with sex, drugs, death, a scandal, or "anybody who disagrees with Obama is a racist." No, my story is simply one of those feel-good stories that might catch somebody's interest and make them feel good at the same time. Sorry if this bored you; perhaps I should just let you get back to your depressive stories.


Heindrek Allen

Cudjoe Key

Green Teens

Welcome to Bonnie Blogs Green, pages where you may encounter items about intrigue, treachery, and intrepid teens. If you wander in from time to time, may you find something of interest. Posts will appear slowly at first since Bonnie is busy working the gardens and writing mysteries that champion green teens. She’s been waiting for just the right first post and has finally uncovered it.

Intrepid Teens

“It took a group of teenagers just a few weeks to solve a problem that's as old as the sea.” So starts a recent article on CNN.com. http://www.cnn.c/om/2009/TECH/05/22/scoop.invention/index.html


Raves to the members of Sea Scout Ship 41 in Bay Village, Ohio. May you live long and prosper. See them in action. http://waterfrontchallenge.blogspot.com/

I need one of those ingenious sea-scooping devices these admirable scouts invented at my inland home in North Carolina. Inland home? Yes. You read that right. Some of the debris the scouts fished out of a marina in Florida could very well have passed under my driveway bridge on its way to the ocean. Sad but true. It would have been nice to abort the trashy trip which is only possible when the water rises over our bridge. Those plastic bottles that are thoughtlessly tossed out of a vehicle? They are starting a long journey. (That’s if my neighborhood cleanup team doesn’t grab them first and stash them in a recycle bin. We can’t get them all, but we try.) Those bottles are often washed down a storm drain which feeds into a creek and on to a stream, a river, a larger river, eventually maybe even an ocean.

Next they join an evil swarm of like-minded discards in a maniacal quest to pollute our environment visually and tangibly. If enough wicked castoffs join the same horde, flooding and property damage occur. Health hazards to wildlife and humans result.

Several times a year in order to gain access to my home, I have to clear our bridge. Though unpleasant, it’s one way I can interrupt a downstream attack of the unwanted . The list of items lost and tossed is amazing. Most recently, among the stranger bits of debris, were half of a food processor, a full bottle of Tilex, and a spray can of sneaker protector that ended life beside a sneaker it had miserably failed.

At the very bottom of the pile was a furious Sponge Bob. After being tossed, tumbled, and battered for miles in the treacherous flood waters, he’d sighed with relief when the surge slowed and the waters receded. Alas, though the water had departed, Bob was left buried under two feet of debris.

Appreciating his spunk, I saved Bob and gave him a place of honor on my desk. He was thrilled to read about the Bay Village, OH Sea Scouts and hopes they inspire teens to rescue tossed toys all over the world. Sponge Bob is still scrubbing, trying to rid himself of his frightening and muddy ordeal, and as soon as he feels up to it he’s going shopping for new clothes--square green pants. He’s taking up a new cause. Go green teens!

Visit me at http://www.bonniedoerrbooks.com/