Their numbers declined sharply in the late 1960s as a result of live captures of killer whales for aquarium displays, including the infamous Penn Cove capture in August 1970 that Marisa learns about from Tal and Kevin. In 2005, the Southern Residents were placed on the Endangered Species List, mostly due to its small population size. As of December 31, 2015, J, K, and L pods numbers totaled eighty-four.1
Lolita, one of the whales taken at Penn Cove, is the last surviving orca of forty-five members of the Southern Resident community that was captured. On February 4, 2015, Lolita was officially included in the endangered listing of the Southern Residents. For years, Orca Network (www.orcanetwork.org) has been working tirelessly to bring Lolita back to the Northwest, where her retirement home awaits.
So if you find yourself falling in love with orcas, or you’d just like to learn more about the SRKW, a great resource is the Center for Whale Research (www.whaleresearch.com) in Friday Harbor. To hear what the whales sound like when they’re communicating to each other, try listening in on the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network (www.orcasound.net) or at Listening for Orcas (www.listen.orcasound.net).
Finally, the Suquamish Museum (www.suquamishmuseum.org) is a great place to learn more about the history and vibrant culture of this Coast Salish tribe and their ancestral leader Chief Seattle, whose ideas on personal values and environmental responsibility remain important today.
As you read and learn more about the ways of the orcas, my wish for all my readers is that, like Marisa, each of you discovers your own passion in life, whatever that may be, and you find the courage and faith within yourself to follow it as it calls you home.
1 Center for Whale Research
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My deepest thanks to …
~ All the many people who worked long and hard at WestWinds Press, making this a stronger book, but especially my talented and perceptive editor Michelle McCann and publisher Douglas Pfeiffer, who believed in this story from the beginning.
~ My writing community at the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program and SCBWI-Western Washington, many of whom read some or all of this manuscript at various stages and offered wise and perceptive criticism: Bonny Becker, Kirby Larson, Carmen Bernier-Grand, Wayne Ude, Ann Gonzalez, Stephanie Lile, Kobbie Alamo, Grier Jewell, Frances Wood, and Annie Boochever. Thanks also to Evelyn Fazio who shared insights on story structure and characters.
~ Mary Ruckelshaus, formerly of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Kelly Balcomb-Bartok of the Center for Whale Research who read early drafts of this manuscript and offered valuable advice and expertise on marine ecosystems and the ways of killer whales. Any and all errors that remain are mine alone.
~ Susan Berta and Howard Garrett of Orca Network who helped me envision the enormity of the Penn Cove orca captures and the circumstances of Lolita’s past, present, and future.
~ The staff at Soundwatch Boater Education, a program of the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, Washington, who answered any and all my questions related to boating, marine laws, and the impact of marine traffic on the Southern Resident killer whales.
~ Lydia Sigo, Curator/Archivist at the Suquamish Museum, for her understanding, support, and generosity of spirit in addition to practical guidance on the Puget Sound Coast Salish tribes.
~ Peg Deam of the Suquamish Tribe and Michele Balagot of the Tulalip Tribes, Lushootseed Department, who helped with translation and recorded specific words so I could hear spoken Lushootseed.
I gleaned a wealth of information and perspective on the ways of whales from the extensive work being done on behalf of orca conservation at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor and Orca Conservancy in Seattle, as well as real-time underwater sound recordings of orca vocalizations available through the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network. Newspaper reports from 1997 and the ten-year anniversary compilation published in the Kitsap Sun provided invaluable, up-close and personal details to L-25’s visit to Dyes Inlet. Two excellent books also provided additional history and context on Orcinus orca: Alexandra Morton’s Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us and David Neiwert’s Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us.
Closer to home, my thanks to Sue Williams Judge, who helped me understand nursing, emergency care, and the complex issues involved in adoption and helping families in crisis; Jim Hill and family for their Pasadena stories; Charlie Taffett for letting me borrow his name; and Etsuko Koh, owner of Fresh Flours Pastries in Seattle, where much of this book was written. Every hour spent in her shop, I was made to feel welcome.
And finally, to Carol Mentyka, Mark Phillips and Megan Corwin, Karen Hirsch, Marilyn Davie, Barbara Young, Kevin Johnston and Betsy Whitaker, Joe and Trudi Picciano, James Ferraro, and Michael Poling, who listened, counseled, supported, and encouraged me every step of the way—you have my boundless gratitude.
Especially and always, to Stephen and Lena, thank you for taking that leap of faith with me.
CHASING AT THE SURFACE
Discussion Questions
1. Lena and Marisa are best friends but they react very differently to the events and problems they face in this book. What are some differences you noticed? Does this strengthen or weaken their friendship? What are some ways that each girl expresses her friendship for the other?
2. Why do you think Marisa refuses to read Mom’s letters? Do you think this decision helps her to better deal with Mom leaving or does it make it worse? Would you make the same decision if you were in a similar situation?
3. When Mom leaves home, Marisa and Dad don’t know where she’s going or why. Do you think this was the right thing for Mom to do? Why do you think she made that decision? Can you think of other ways she could have handled it?
4. How does Marisa feel when she learns that Muncher, the little orca calf she and Mom adopted, is in the inlet? Why do you think she has these feelings?
5. In the beginning, Marisa says that she and Dad both “let Mom go without a fight.” Do you think that the whales’ visit helped Marisa learn to fight for what she wants? How? Is there a particular point in the story where you see this change happening?
6. At different times in the story Harris and Marisa both take a boat out on the inlet and find themselves in danger. What is similar about the two events and what is different? Do you think the decision each character made was good or bad?
7. What does Harris mean when he tells Marisa that her mother “got it”? Why does this shock and upset Marisa so much?
8. When the whales first come into the inlet, everyone is excited, but the longer they stay things begin to change. What changes did you notice? Why do you think this is? How do you think you would have behaved if you were there watching when the whales arrived?
9. Marisa knows a lot about orcas and she learns even more from the whale researchers who come to visit from Friday Harbor. What are some things you learned from this book about whales that you didn’t know before? Do you feel differently about orca whales and the environment they live in after reading this book?
10. At the community meeting, what does Kevin mean when he says that the herding of the whales on the inlet was like “Penn Cove without the net”?
11. Do you think it was right that people used to capture whales to put them on display in aquariums? Why or why not? What specific examples in the book made you feel the way you do?
12. Why do you think Bette and Tal give Marisa their daughter Carol Ann’s charm bracelet? Do you think Carol Ann would be okay with this if she knew?
13. What discovery does Marisa make that helps her solve the mystery of why the whales won’t leave the inlet? What clues earlier in the story foreshadow this discovery?
14. What does Marisa learn from the culture of the Coast Salish tribes during the time of the whales’ visit? How does this help her get the whales home?
15. Two main themes of this book are finding courage to fight for what you believe in and the meaning of family. How do Harris and Marisa differ in their vi
ews on these two themes? Do their ideas change from the start of the book to the end? Are there other characters/people in the book who also demonstrate the meaning of family?
16. What do you think the first meeting will be like between Marisa and her half-brother, Ben? How are they different and what do they have in common? What can each of them teach the other?
17. Whales are very intelligent animals, but as Naomi tells Marisa, there is still a lot that scientists don’t know about them. Do you think some of the communication and interaction that Marisa and her friends have with L-Pod could really happen? Which parts seem most realistic and which might be just Marisa’s imagination? Does it make a difference to the decisions Marisa ultimately makes to help the whales?
18. There are many instances in the book that talk about whales and salmon. What have you learned about the connections between orca whales and salmon after reading this book? Can you think of other animal relationships like this that also exist?
19. Did it make a difference to you to know that the story was partially based on a real-life incident? Why or why not?
20. Why do you think the author titled the book “Chasing at the Surface”?
Chasing at the Surface Page 19