A Middle‑Grade Novel · Lockport, New York
Will she find her truth in the legend?
Along the quiet water of the Erie Canal, a girl no one seems to notice inherits her grandmother's star‑shaped lantern — and discovers she isn't the only one who has been lonely in Lockport.
About the Book
Lila Willow has always moved through the world quietly — not teased, not lonely exactly, just overlooked, like a bookmark someone forgot to pull out. Every afternoon she walks the towpath along the Erie Canal in Lockport, telling the water the things no one else stops to hear.
On her twelfth birthday, her grandmother places an old brass lantern in her hands — carved with tiny stars and a promise every Willow girl has carried before her. That night, the ripples on the canal start behaving strangely. And the town's oldest legend, the shy creature everyone calls the Canal Shark, turns out to be less legend than anyone imagined.
“The best stories don't ask you to believe them. They ask you to keep wondering.”
— GrammaLockport, New York
No one agrees on when it began. In Lockport, the story has traveled the way canal water does — slowly, steadily, from porch to porch and grandparent to grandchild — growing a little different every time it's retold. What everyone agrees on: whatever lives beneath the locks has never once been unkind. It only wants, more than anything, not to be seen.
A Lockport fisherman finds his net near the locks shredded to ribbons by morning — not snagged, not torn by any animal he can name. It becomes the town's first bedtime tale.
Closing the great gates at twilight, an old lock tender glimpses a single fin cutting through the water — too large, too smooth, too deliberate to belong to any fish he knows.
Walking the canal on an evening's leave, two young soldiers watch a dark fin slice the surface and vanish. Neighbors blame nerves and wartime. The soldiers never change their story.
A local teenager captures Lockport's most famous mystery photo — blurred, grainy, and unmistakably shaped like something long and curved beneath the surface. Experts scoff. The town keeps the clipping anyway.
A quiet girl with an heirloom lantern notices a ripple that isn't wind, isn't a duck, isn't a fish — and begins to wonder if the legend has been waiting for someone willing to look closely.
Who You'll Meet
A girl who has never once asked to be noticed, and a creature who has never once let himself be seen — until they find each other on the same quiet stretch of water.
The Keeper
Twelve years old and easy to overlook — not bullied, not teased, just quietly unseen. She skips stones, tells the canal her secrets, and has just inherited a lantern that every Willow girl carries for a while. Gramma says the world needs children who shine like the sun, and every so often, one who shines like the stars.
The Legend
The creature Lockport has whispered about for over a century — never dangerous, never seen for long, always watching. Shy where other legends are loud, it has spent generations disappearing the moment anyone steps too close. Until a girl who understands what it means to be overlooked starts leaving something better than crackers by the water.
Now in Production
The audiobook edition of Lila and the Canal Shark brings the towpath, the locks, and the old jump-rope rhyme about the shark to life chapter by chapter — from Lila's quiet mornings by the water to the night the legend finally answers back.
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Get in Touch
Questions about school visits, review copies, events, or anything else? Beth‑Ann would love to hear from you — drop a note below and someone will write back soon.
Prefer email? Reach out directly at hello@bethannguilmart.com.
Bring It Home
Lila and the Canal Shark is currently in production, alongside its audiobook edition. Retailer links will go live here the moment pre‑orders open — join the newsletter and you'll hear first.
Elsewhere
Beth‑Ann's Instagram is being set up now — cover art, canal photos, and behind‑the‑scenes updates will start appearing here soon.
Coming SoonElsewhere
The Goodreads page for Lila and the Canal Shark will go live closer to publication, with a shelf link that lands here.
Coming SoonElsewhere
The Bookshop.org storefront opens alongside pre‑orders. Check back soon, or visit the Order page for the full retailer list.
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