One hot summer afternoon, Clare and Cole went with their father to the little blue toy store in downtown Bath, Maine.

Cole and Clare had saved all year long for the toy boat they had seen in the store window, and today they would take it home.

Inside the musty old store, Mr. MacKenzie, the friendly shopkeeper, gently lifted the toy boat from its perch in the window and handed it to Clare and Cole, whose eyes were wide with excitement.

"There you are now, crew — your own Friendship sloop," said Mr. MacKenzie, whose eyes sparkled as if he was recalling fond days at sea long ago.

"Friendship sloop?" asked Cole, holding the fine boat in his hands as Clare ran her fingers across its canvas sails.

"Aye, Friendship sloops have been built up the coast at Friendship, Maine, since before I was your age. Best lobsterin' and fishin' boats made," said Mr. MacKenzie. "She's as much at home in a gale at sea as she is ghosting along in a ladies' breeze." The wind chimes outside seemed to jingle in agreement as a gust of wind stirred them on an otherwise calm day.

Cole and Clare paid Mr. MacKenzie for the little boat, thanked him, and then waved goodbye as the screen door banged shut behind them.

On the way home in Dad's old red truck, the little boat's sails flapped in the wind blowing through the windows.

"What are you going to name her?" Dad asked.

Cole and Clare looked at each other and shrugged and then looked at the boat. "I know!" said Clare. "How about Bonnie, after the song you used to sing to us?" They all agreed Bonnie was a fine name, and they drove past the whispering pines, singing,

My Bonnie lies over the ocean.
My Bonnie lies over the sea.
My Bonnie lies over the ocean.
Oh, please bring back my Bonnie to me, to me.

Cole, Clare, and their dad took Bonnie, the Friendship sloop, back home to Moosehead Lake, where the mighty Kennebec River started its long journey to the ocean. But up in the western mountains of Maine, the Kennebec was just a small trickle of a stream, moving slowly to the south, still a hundred miles or more from the sea.

Cole and Clare played with Bonnie in the lake every day, and every night, Cole carefully tied the little boat up to the dock. Then Clare always tugged on the rope to check the knot to be sure Bonnie would be safe and sound until the next morning.

One evening late in the summer, when there was a chill in the air and the sound of cicadas droned loud and long from the darkening woods, Cole and Clare could smell warm blueberry pie wafting down to the lake from their house on the hill.

Cole hastily tied the little boat to the dock, and Clare forgot to tug on the rope to check the knot. They ran up the hill to the house, thinking more about blueberry pie than how well they had tied up the little boat.

Later that night, when the full moon was shining over the lake and a loon was calling its lonely call, the knot holding the little boat to the dock slowly came loose, and Bonnie drifted away!

The little boat drifted slowly away at first, but soon the current of the Kennebec pulled Bonnie downstream. Bonnie started moving faster and faster, and even though she tried, she couldn't sail back upstream to get back to Cole and Clare. Bonnie was getting scared. The little boat liked her new home on the lake; it was so much better than being in the toy-store window, out of the water, and without an owner to care for her. But all Bonnie could do now was drift down the river and see where the Kennebec would take her.

But Bonnie was determined to get back home no matter what, no matter when. Deep down, she knew that to get back home, she would have to take charge, stay calm, think clearly, stay healthy, and be strong.

The next morning, when Cole and Clare got to the dock to play with their boat, they found that Bonnie was gone!

Cole and Clare rushed to tell their mom and dad what had happened. As they ran up the hill to the house, they felt themselves getting mad at each other. Clare yelled ahead, "Cole didn't tie up the boat right!"

Cole shouted, "Clare didn't check the knot like she should have!"

Cole and Clare's parents sat them both down, and their father sternly said, "Look, getting mad at each other won't help find your boat. We need to work together now more than ever, so make up with each other, and let's go see if we can find your boat." Cole and Clare told each other they were sorry, and suddenly, they felt better about working together to find Bonnie.

Cole and Clare searched for Bonnie all over Moosehead Lake and even down part of the little Kennebec.

When they couldn't find the little Friendship sloop, their dad said, "Bonnie will be okay; she'll be happy in the river. She might even make it to the ocean. That's all any boat wants — to sail in the salty sea." He could see how sad Cole and Clare were, so he called Uncle Danby, a lobsterman who worked his sturdy boat all along the New England coast. Maybe he could watch for the little boat if it drifted all the way to the sea.

When Dad reached Uncle Danby by radio out on his boat, he told him what had happened and asked Uncle Danby to keep an eye out for the little boat. All Uncle Danby said was "Yep, I imagine she'll be just fine." Uncle Danby never talked much, but he always meant just what he said.

Bonnie drifted down the river toward a big blue steel bridge where some bullies were walking across and throwing rocks. The little Friendship sloop stayed quiet and hoped that the bullies wouldn't notice her. She knew that in the end, bullies never won, but they sure could be pesky in the meantime. Just then, Bonnie heard one of the bullies say, "Hey, look at that sailboat comin' down the river! Let's throw rocks at it!" And the bullies gathered all the rocks they could find to throw over the bridge as the little boat sailed underneath.

The mean bullies tried to bomb the boat with big rocks as the little Friendship sloop sailed underneath the bridge. Bonnie swerved and pitched, trying to dodge the rocks and sail down the river to safety.

Bonnie even got a little push downstream from a wave that formed when one of the bullies fell into the water after leaning over the bridge too far while holding a big rock (proving once again that bullies never win!)

Bonnie drifted to the bank of the river because her mast was hurting; she guessed it might have been hit by a rock. A friendly boy and girl who had seen what happened came up to help.

The kind boy and girl fixed Bonnie's mast with one of their shoelaces, and Bonnie thanked them for helping her. The nice girl said, "I'm sorry you were hurt. If everyone just treated each other like they would want to be treated, things would be a lot better. I guess bad people just haven't learned that yet."

The kind boy agreed, saying, "People need to stop hurting each other." He added, "Sometimes we can choose to stay away from bad people if we know who they are; other times, there's just no way to tell. But don't worry or be afraid; remember that good people will always outnumber bad people. Knowing that should give you peace and comfort."

The kind girl said, "Maybe we can't change what bad people have already done, but we can always overcome bad with good."

They saw the bullies being put in a police car that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere to arrest the...