Turtle Walk — Joanne Macgregor

When Samantha Steadman starts high school at a boarding school in the Ukahlamba Drakensberg Mountains, little does she know that she will soon be engaged in an ecological war for the survival of the endangered leatherback turtle. Their adventures range from dangerous nighttime skirmishes with illegal fishermen, to crazy antics for television cameras. Samantha and her friends - rich and sassy Jessie Delaney, and cabinet minister's daughter Nomusa Gule â€" take the fight from the classroom to the open seas. Back at school, they have to deal with romances and heartbreaks, a joint musical production with the neighboring boys' school, encounters with an eccentric bunch of teachers, conflicts with parents and skirmishes with bitter rivals. Together they will need to find the strength to cope, and the hope that comes from knowing that individuals can make a difference.