Three friends - Buoy, Gull and Seal - live in a world of whale songs and storms, shooting stars and slicks, familiar visitors and surprise occurrences. In a series of vignettes, we visit Buoy's world and ponder what it is that makes a place special. What it is that makes a place home.


Illustration copyright (c) 1998 by Raul Colon

Buoy rolled lazily on the long low swell of the Sea. Buoy lived far from land; so far that only on the days when the Clouds raced against each other and the Wind seemed a bit angry, could Buoy just barely, ever so slightly, make out something to the East that was neither the Sea nor the Sky. But Buoy didn't mind at all. He loved the Sea and the Sky. He loved their blueness and wondered how it could be that his redness complemented them so perfectly.

Illustrations by Raúl Colón
Published in 1998 by Delacorte Press (Bantam Doubleday Dell)
70 pages - ISBN 0-385-32539-8

A portion of the author's proceeds will be donated to the American Oceans Campaign.

Read some of Buoy's reviews.

STORY: Many years ago I was helping my Uncle Paul move his boat from Long Beach to Marina del Rey. It was a calm night as we made our way around Pt. Fermin. Out of the darkness came the buoy which marks the shipping lane in these waters. It sat all alone bobbing on the swell. It was beautiful in the moonlight. And very peaceful. Paul said, "There's something to write a story about." So I did. But Buoy is about more than that. It is about the sea, the earth, and home. How they all go together. And how we must remember that home is defined by more than our location.
It is defined by our heart.

GREEN FLASH: Want to know more about the Green Flash. Here are some links and photos.

Buoy was the recipient of the 1998 Parent's Choice Gold Medal for Picture Books
Buoy received great reviews all around and was being published in 10 languages. I get more feedback about this book from adults than from kids (It seems to be a really good gift). Unfortunately it didn't become the bestseller we had hoped it would be. It's now out of print in the United States.
I was in Mexico in 1999-2000 and saw the Spanish version in a bookstore. It was shelved under 'parapsychology' right next to Illusions by Richard Bach!

Spanish
-Ediciones B, Barcelona-

Boya, un hogar en el mar
Un libro con la magia y la poesía de Juan Salvador Gaviota
(a book with the magic and poetry of Jonathan Livingston Seagull)