An epic family read, Kirk Lombard's The Shadow Stream

Kirk Lombard is an author, angler, sustainable fishmonger and tuba player who worked inside the juvenile rehabilitation system. His first book, the award-winning Sea Forager’s Guide to the Northern California Coast, was described as “poetry” for fish by NPR.

Now he's back with a throwback to family-reads-of-yore, this epic follows a troubled boy and a host of hilariously vexed animals who must save a river before it’s dammed, so they can save themselves.

Gabriel (“G” for short) is wasting away in the Abiddon County Juvenile Center when he’s introduced to the Shongunk River by his dying uncle. The river valley — trash-heaped but chock-full of mysteries and fish — wins G over. But, as G has learned, good things can’t last. The Shongunk is scheduled to be dammed by a local developer. In a matter of days, it will cease flowing, and all of the talkative creatures who live in the river valley will be as homeless as G.

Just as G decides it’s no time to accept his fate, so too do the animals. To inspire an uprising, a young trout is nominated to make a fateful journey up the river; a raccoon swears a violent oath against humans; and a newly sober buck leads his skittish flock out of harm’s way. Together with G, they show there is power in all of us, even the smallest minnow.

An event for the whole family on a Friday evening.