The Snake-stone

The Snake-stone tells the poignant story of James, a fifteen-year-old championship diver who, despite loving his adoptive family, feels an undeniable pull to understand his origins. Driven by a sense of incompleteness and a mysterious stone shaped like a snake, James makes the difficult decision to leave his Olympic training behind and travel to the rural farmland of his birth. This journey becomes a powerful quest for identity, belonging, and understanding what truly constitutes 'home' and 'family.' The book sensitively explores themes of adoption, self-discovery, and the complex emotions involved in searching for one's birth parents, making it an excellent choice for middle-grade readers navigating similar questions or simply interested in a compelling personal adventure.

"James is a championship diver, with a shot for the Olympics. But when he thinks about his birth mother, something in him sinks like a stone. His adoptive parents love him, and his father is a terrific diving coach--yet even they cannot tell him who he really is. So James breaks training and runs off to the farmland of his birth, with nothing but a mysterious stone shaped like a snake. Can he use it to unlock his past?"