Finding Safe Harbors

My latest novel, Safe Harbor, is about two children (an immigrant girl from India and a Mexican American boy) who become friends when they find a seal pup that is strangled in plastic trash, stranded on a beach in RI. As they work together to save the seal, they start to realize that there’s so much more they can do . They start taking small steps (like restoring sand dunes and organizing a trash pick up); and they also dream about larger steps they can take (like lobbying legislators, or helping create laws to protect nature, or engineering innovative solutions that reduce our carbon imprint). 

Through it all, though, Geetha, the main character, is a quiet person; and she remains a quiet person all the way through to the end of the book, although her confidence grows and she reaches out to create community as she and her friend Miguel work hard to save our green earth and our blue seas. Saving our planet and its creatures was the kind of work I used to do, as an oceanographer, before I became a writer. 

One of the things I loved most about oceanography was what we called “field work” – doing science outdoors. Taking water samples on the deck of a ship and analyzing them for pollutants for example.

Maybe that’s why, unlike some authors who enjoy writing in noisy places like cafes, I prefer to write outdoors, whenever I can. 

Although I usually type on a computer, I also still sometimes write by hand! 

Speaking of hands, when Geetha is working to restore sand dunes, she speaks about how she feels – as if she is “building hope with (her) hands.” And if readers of SAFE HARBOR are looking for ways that they might, like Geetha, take action to help save our world from climate change and other kinds of pollution, there are many suggestions and resources on my website’s Safe Harbor book page. 

As an author, I must admit I think there are many ways to buildhope with our hands – including writing poetry and novels that inspire others. After several years of working with my hands in a laboratory, I switched to writing – in part because I realized, as Geetha realizes in the novel, that if we are to successfully save our planet, we have to do everything we can, at every level we can think of. And one of the most important things is to change our mindset and consequently the way we live. Saving theenvironment means living and thinking differently.  

In India there is a beautiful Sanskrit phrase: vasudaivakuttumbakam. It means all living creatures belong to one family. It’s the way Geetha feels, when she bonds with the seal as well as with all that lives on the shores of her new home in America. It’s also what motivates my writing, in a way – the belief that we are all one family; that we have many differences that we must learn to respect; but also an underlying similarity that unites us. And I hope my stories and poems encourage readers to exercise their empathy, and that my books act as packages of compassion to make our world more of a Safe Harbor. 

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Padma Venkatraman is the author of The Bridge Home, Born Behind Bars, A Time to Dance, Island’s End and Climbing the Stairs. Her books have sold over ¼ million copies, received over 20 starred reviews, and won numerous awards: Walter Dean Myers Award, South Asia Book Award, Golden Kite, ALA Notable etc. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry Magazine and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. “An exquisite novel in verse by one of my favorite poets,” says Newbery honor winner, Margarita Engle, about Padma’s upcoming novel, Safe Harbor, which School Library Journal called a “must read” in a starred review. Inspired by Padma’s doctorate in oceanography, Safe Harbor features a girl who rescues a stranded seal.When she’s not writing, Padma loves teaching and sharing her love for reading, writing and science. Visit Padma’s website to download free teacher and writer resources (www.padmavenkatraman.com) and arrange an event via her speaking agency, The Author Village.

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 We want to hear your thoughts throughout the week, and here’s a giveaway for those who share comments!

Jen Bartin is the winner of a copy of Safe Harbor by Padma Venkatraman, donated by Nancy Paulsen Books.