Winter s tail juliana hatkoff biography

A Story of Healing and Hope

Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again told by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff and Craig Hatkoff ( Turtle Pond/Scholastic, $16.99, ages 4-8) is the kind of story that comes along only once in a blue moon and manages to capture hearts with its universal message of hope and healing.

Once a 3 month-old bottlenose dolphin got caught up in a crab trap and, despite being rescued by an astute fisherman and brought to safety at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, lost her tail.

Named after the chilly night on the day she was rescued, Winter beat all odds and survived although she suffered from extreme exhaustion and life threatening injury. Somehow this determined dolphin compensated for the loss of her appendage by eventually learning to swim from side to side like a fish instead of using the up and down motion employed by dolphins.

Abby Stone, the head dolphin trainer at CMA along with volunteers, bottle-fed Winter who grew stronger,