Cox - Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas

Text copyright 2014 by Lynne Cox

Jacket and interior ilustrations copyright 2014 by Brian Floca

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company. Schwartz & Wade Books and the colophon are trademarks of Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cox, Lynne. Elizabeth, queen of the seas / Lynne Cox ; illustrated by Brian Floca.1st ed. p. cm.

Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-375-85888-8

Gibraltar library binding ISBN 978-0-375-95888-5

eBook ISBN 978-0-375-98769-4

1. Elephant sealsNew ZealandChristchurch Juvenile literature. 2. Human-animal relationships New ZealandChristchurchJuvenile literature. 3. Christchurch (N.Z.)Social life and customs Juvenile literature. I. Floca, Brian, ill. II. Title. QL737.P64C69 2012 599.79 40929dc23 2011023586

The illustrations were rendered in pen-and-ink and watercolor.

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For Joe, Ed, and Benjamin L.C.
For Sophie, Eddie, Johnny, John, and Sergio B.F.

AUTHORS NOTE

Many years ago, I traveled to New Zealand to swim across three lakes near Mount Cook. Before heading home to California, I took a walk along the Avon River, which flows through the city of Christchurch. A boy and a girl were standing on its banks, and they asked me if I was looking for Elizabeth.

Who? I replied.

The boy, Michael, explained that Elizabeth was a very lovely elephant seal who had decided to live in Christchurch. Then Michael and his sister, Maggie, went on to tell me the wonderful story of Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas. And when they were done, I knew that one day I would have to pass Elizabeths story on to you.

The author and illustrator wish to thank elephant seal expert Cory Champagne of the University of California, Santa Cruz, for his help with this story.

T here was once a lovely elephant seal who lived in the city. Most elephant seals live in the ocean, in salt water. They sleep on rocky coasts and lie along sandy beaches. But this seal was different. She swam in the sweet, shallow waters of the Avon River where it flowed through the heart of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

When the seal grew tired, shed pull herself onto the shore with her front flippers, then haul her back flippers up behind her.

Moving up the soft shore like a giant inchworm, shed stretch herself out on the long, cool grass and take a nap in the bright sunshine.

And when she got hot, shed use her flippers to toss huge clumps of cold, wet mud onto her back.

The seals coat was silvery brown. She was eight feet longas long as a long surfboardand she weighed twelve hundred poundsas much as fifteen Labrador retrievers. The people of Christchurch knew there was something very special about her. She was strong and powerful and regallike Elizabeth, the Queen of England.

And so they named her

There was one small boy named Michael who looked for the elephant seal every day on his way to school, and again on his way home. Even on weekends he walked beside the slow, swaying waters, hoping to spot Elizabeths head bobbing above the current or see her body resting on the riverbank. Though Michael knew never to get too close to herafter all, she was a wild animalhe liked to call out her name.

And if Elizabeth was near, shed turn and look at Michael with her dark brown eyes,

snort once to clear the water from her nostrils, and once again, as if to say hello.

Early one morning, when the grass was still wet, Elizabeth hauled herself up, up, up to the top of the riverbank and stretched out across the two-lane road.

Maybe she liked the feel of the warm firmness under her belly, or maybe it was the sunshine fanning out across her back. But whatever it was, she decided to stay.

Suddenly, there was a screeching of brakes. Elizabeth moved forward as quickly as a twelve-hundred-pound animal with flippers for legs can.