The Neptune Challenge

Book excerpt: Danger lurks beneath. . . . Genetically engineered to survive in the ocean, Nere and her friends are recovering from their treacherous journey to Safety Harbor, an undersea refuge founded by the scientists of the Neptune Project. But plenty of enemies prowl just outside the colony's boundaries, and when two of the children are kidnapped, Nere, her loyal dolphins, and the other Neptune kids must set out on an expedition even more perilous than their first. Tasked with infiltrating the kidnapper's high-tech undersea base, Nere soon discovers that rescuing the missing Neptune kids isn't all there is to her mission: the secret to saving the world's oceans is hidden somewhere deep inside this vast fortress, and she and her friends will have to risk everything to find it. With bloodthirsty shark mutates and savage kids roaming the corridors, will Nere and her companions find a way to save their friends, themselves, and their underwater world? The stakes couldn't be higher in this thrilling sequel to the award-winning The Neptune Project. Praise for The Neptune Project 2016-2017 Sunshine State Young Readers Award winner 2014-2015 Texas Bluebonnet Master List Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award nominee Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year, 2014 "Holyoke keeps her prose well-pitched to her audience . . . this suspenseful, undersea dystopia should keep middle schoolers hooked." --Kirkus Reviews "The book revels in the beauty of the underwater world and the creatures that inhabit it. The relationship between the teenagers and the dolphins -- who actually become characters themselves-is especially well crafted. The Neptune Project will attract male and female readers." -- VOYA