Here is a sweet, sweeping story about the adventures of a cheeky bird who lost his way from Chile and spent three weeks traveling on the sailboat “Dulcinea” in the Pacific Ocean with a pair of sailors who were delighted to host him. The curiosities the charismatic ocean traveler experiences over the course of his hitched journey on this human vessel—all sharply illustrated with photography—include coiled rope, orange peels, and the air above the boat’s top mast.

When Dulcinea reaches French Polynesia, Earl leaves his human companions at last. But their memories and the photos they snapped of him while he was in their midst will live on always.

Janet Hutchinson is as avid a bird watcher as she is a boater. In Earl’s Story, she combines the two passions in a true account of an avian visitor with whom she and her husband recently spent time on their boat. Over the course of the three weeks Earl the egret hung around her vessel, she realized he would make a great focal subject for a children’s book.

When not sailing or birdwatching, Hutchinson and her husband live in Calgary, where the nearby mountains indulge their interest in hiking, skiing, and outdoor activities. The new author loves children’s books and counts reading to young people among her most cherished pleasures.