Five children in a dugout canoe listen to the words of the storyteller as he poles the canoe through the waters of the vanishing Everglades. He tells them the history of this "living kaleidoscope of color and beauty," from the earliest days in the Age of Seashells up to our present time, which threatens to destroy it. Jean George's poetic words combine with Wendell Minor's lush watercolor paitings to inspire reverance for this fragile ecosystem. (Ages 7-10)