A Manatee Miracle: The Adventures of Shelly Beach #1

By Shelly Mateer

The first installment in The Adventures of Shelly Beach series, A Manatee Miracle introduces us to Shelly Beach and her family as they move to the Florida Keys. A friendly manatee leads Shelly and her brother Sunny to a magical paddle boat and on to save the fragile environment they have come to love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shelly Mateer
• Release date: Apr 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005405052

Shelly Mateer

Shelly Mateer is a former CIA officer. She writes books and stories inspired by her time working for the CIA. Her first book, Single in the CIA, is a memoir about her experience working in the National Clandestine Service (aka Directorate of Operations) of the Central Intelligence Agency. Her series, Mingling in the CIA, takes readers on a disturbing yet comical journey into the daily lives of the officers in America's premier spy agency. Mission: Stand Down is a true to life spy thriller – her most controversial book yet. Mommy Thinks She's a Monster is a touching children's picture book about moms and motherhood written from the perspective of a young child, who only wants their mommy to be present in their life. The Lemon Seed is a children's picture book about thriving in adversity and flourishing, even in dismal circumstances and environments. The Adventures of Shelly Beach series is an elementary-grade chapter book series that takes our youngest readers on magical adventures in the Florida Keys. As a mother of two young children, Shelly has created the BurpMitt® product line for baby and home, developed the Cooking in the CIA app and created a comical children’s music album, Mommy’s Gone Mad!

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A Manatee Miracle

The Adventures of Shelly Beach #1

Shelly Mateer

Copyright © 2021 Shelly Mateer

All rights reserved.

www.shellymateer.com

Cover art by Paul K. Sewell

www.fiverr.com/pkscomix

Book design by Andrea Reider

www.reiderbooks.com

Published by False Buddha LLC

1314 East Las Olas Boulevard No. 232

Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301, USA

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021907154

ISBN-13: 978-0-578-89261-0

Contents

1. The Long Drive

2. House Hunting

3. A New Home

4. The Wink

5. The Canal

6. The Paddle Boat

7. Uncle Oscar

8. Magic

9. Home Again

10. The Pool

11. Change

12. Life Returns

Chapter 1 ~

The Long Drive

Shelly Beach’s parents loved the ocean. One summer after a very long, cold winter, they decided to move Shelly and her brother Sunny to the islands off of Florida, the Florida Keys. The Keys had always held a fascination for them and they decided to make the trek from their northern, icy home to the wild and wet chain of islands off the coast of Florida.

Shelly had always loved going to the beach, so she was excited to be moving to a state that was surrounded by the ocean!  A peninsula, her mom had explained. On the long drive down she dreamed of the adventures she would have, but she could not have even imagined the magical things she would find in her new home.

At first the drive was routine and very dull. Her brother Sunny was no help either, for all he wanted to do was play video games. Once they entered the Florida Keys, Shelly was quite happy to stare out the window at the palm trees and ocean. She even saw flamingos, all standing on one leg, on the side of the road!

As her dad slowed down to let a large group of blue crabs walk across the street, Shelly marveled at how magical this new area was - her new home!  She could hardly wait to begin her new adventures,