Estuaries form where river meets sea and fresh water mixes with salt. Teeming with life, these places of salt marshes, mudflats, and tidal backwaters serve as nursery areas for oceangoing fish, migratory stopovers for shorebirds, and homes for an amazing diversity of snails, bivalves, fish, mammals, horseshoe crabs, fiddler and blue crabs, terrapin turtles, plankton, and many others, all of whom we meet in the pages of this delightful book. Narrated in the poetic voice of the estuary itself, and accompanied by natural-history sidebars about estuary plants, animals, and cycles, The Secret Bay is another topnotch nature book from the author and illustrator of the award-winning, bestselling Secret Pool. Notable Features A stand-alone book and a stunning companion volume to Ridley and Raye's award-winning Secret Pool. Ridley deftly augments the estuary s lyrical narrative voice with sidebars about the plants, animals, and natural processes of an estuary. Raye's gorgeous watercolors reveal new features and hidden treats with each reading. Back matter includes The Estuary Food Web, Great Escapes (how estuary animals avoid predators), and an author's note about the challenges facing estuaries. A perfect book for the budding naturalist and for his or her parents and teachers.