Citywide Reads 2008

 "To adequately tell Miles’ tale and crawl inside his marine-obsessed character, I spent lots of time on the water and the flats, watching, listening, learning." -- Jim Lynch

Published by Bloomsbury in 2005, Jim Lynch’s The Highest Tide received critical praise for its lyrical writing, sense of wonder about the natural world and its moving story. The protagonist, Miles O’ Malley, is an endearingly quirky, thirteen-year-old boy with a passion for sea life. Driven to explore the waters outside his home at night due to insomnia, he discovers a rare sea creature. It turns out be a giant squid and causes a huge stir in marine biology circles as well as in Miles’ small Puget Sound community. The Highest Tide follows Miles during the transformative summer of his discovery, trying to balance his newfound notoriety with the unraveling of his parents’ marriage, his crush on the troubled girl next door, and his relationship with his octogenarian best friend..


Click here for our The Highest Tide resource guide (PDF).

If you liked The Highest Tide, you might like:

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The Curious Incident of the Dog
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