The Arbiters

Sometimes you have to take a stand, especially when the consequences are dire if you don't. Reily Watters and his band of teenage friends dig the outdoors more than swim practice or Biology class, but a dam project threatens to flood their favorite fishing and hiking haunts-the treasured watershed of the Mannequin Creek. Together they fight back with their own form of frontier justice and realize new things about themselves in the process. Ben Kabumba lets his feet, and inquisitiveness, do the talking. Wil Wisnoski plays defense-with and without a pen. Eddie Knisely improves his jaded world through watercolors, while Reily yearns for the neighborhood dream girl and wet and wild extracurricular pursuits. In this coming of age story, an adventuresome coed crew, and enterprising dog, discover love, acceptance, and the importance of making a difference. Words and research matter, along with proper reconnaissance, covert deeds, and a fed-up bureaucrat named Billy Tilghman. Armed with knowledge and a little bit of serendipity, they disrupt-if not, disassemble-the devious plans of a bumbling developer, and protect their sacred lands. Stirring environmental passions, spiritual connections, and a dose of 1970's nostalgia, The Arbiters has readers cheering for a knotty tree and falling for the charms of a few timely snakes . . . of one kind or another.