Doodah Diva

I’ve just learned about a wonderful contest Scholastic is sponsoring for young readers.

A few weeks ago I told you about Winter’s Tail, a book about Winter the Dolphin, an amazing little dolphin rescued from a crab trap off the coast of Florida. Poor Winter’s tail was so mangled from the trap that she lost her tail. To everyone’s amazement, a prosthetic company offered to design Winter a prosthetic tail. Now Winter has learned to swim with her new tail and is doing great!

Scholastic, the publisher of Winter’s Tail, wants to hear about an animal who is a hero to your kids! All they need to do is write an essay of 200 words or less and tell Scholastic about their animal hero.

One grand prize winner and his/her guardian will receive a trip to visit Winter at her home in Clearwater, Florida, one night’s stay at a hotel, $500 travel voucher, a Winter prize pack and a Nintendo DS Game system! Ten runners up with receive a copy of Winter’s Tail, a Winter’s Tail Nintendo DS game and a Winter plush doll!

Download the contest details here.

Send entries to:
Scholastic’s Meet Winter the Dolphin Contest
557 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

Entries must include student’s name, age, and grade; teacher’s name; and school name, address, and phone number.

All entries must be received by November 30, 2009. Winners will be announced on or around December 14th. No purchase necessary. Open to legal residences of 50 United States and D.C. ages 6-14 as of November 30th 2009. Void where prohibited. Click here for complete contest rules

I’m always amazed at the things people – and animals – can overcome, when given a chance.

There’s a new book out in October called, Winter’s Tail – How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again (Scholastic). I cannot WAIT until Miss J. is a little older and will sit still while I read books to her (or she reads them herself). Right now, she just wants to eat them or tear them apart.

But this is a wonderful book. It’s the story of Winter, a two-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Winter was rescued from a crab trap off the east coast of Florida when she was just a baby – three months old. Rescuers brought her to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Experts at the aquarium nursed Winter back to health and, against the odds, she survived and is doing great. But the trap had damaged her little tail so badly that it eventually fell off, leaving Winter with just a stump.

But animals, like people, learn to adapt and Winter learned to swim with her little stump. She had to use a back and forth motion, different from the normal up and down motion and her caretakers recognized that swimming in way would ultimately damage her spine. So experts designed a prosthetic tail for her and Winter now swims like dolphins were intended, using an up and down motion with her tail.

Authors Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff and Craig Hatkoff, also wrote the bestselling Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship and other books about animals beating the odds.

The books are available in stores October 1 as well as on Amazon and other online booksellers. There is also a Web cast on October 7 that features a virtual field trip to Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Sign up here.