Some competitions are won with speed. Others reveal what lies beneath.Fourteen-year-old Maia Teva has returned to the Polynesian island of Mahana to compete in the legendary Black Pearl Challenge—a demanding contest of diving skill, underwater navigation and courage.Winning could help Maia's family and prove that she is no longer the frightened girl who once froze beneath the water. But during the final challenge, Maia discovers something that was never meant to be found: a strange black pearl marked with a perfect spiral, hidden inside the forbidden Broken Crown reef.The moment she reaches for it, the reef opens.Maia and three young rivals—confident local champion Tane, determined Saffy and Maia's inventive younger brother Noah—are dragged through a violent underwater passage and into the Hollow Sea, a vast secret world concealed beneath the island.There, nothing behaves as it should.Coral preserves voices from the past. Transparent Glass Rays communicate through patterns of light. Blind Current Hounds hunt by detecting heartbeats. A mischievous shell-backed creature steals the pearl that may be the children's only way home. And somewhere in the deepest chamber, an enormous creature known as the Bellmouth is beginning to wake.With a storm closing in, their equipment failing and the hidden world becoming increasingly unstable, the four young divers must overcome rivalry, fear and suspicion if they are to survive.But the Hollow Sea holds an even greater secret.Their parents discovered this world twenty-five years earlier—and lied about what happened there.As the adults race through a dangerous second entrance to find the missing children, old guilt and dangerous ambition return with them. Someone has come back not merely to rescue the children, but to take something powerful from the Hollow Sea.Now Maia must confront more than the dangers beneath the reef. She must face her fear of deep water, her divided family, the pressure to prove herself and the painful discovery that adults do not always tell the truth.To save her friends, her family and an entire hidden ecosystem, Maia will have to learn that courage does not mean feeling no fear.It means deciding what matters more.Why young readers will love itA fast-paced underwater adventure filled with action, danger and suspenseAn original hidden world populated by mysterious and unusual creaturesA diving competition, secret passages, storms, escapes and unexpected betrayalsStrong young characters with different talents, weaknesses and personalitiesMeaningful themes of friendship, sibling relationships, family secrets and trustA coming-of-age story about courage, identity and learning to ask for helpEnvironmental themes woven naturally into an exciting mystery15 atmospheric black-and-white illustrations placed throughout the storyThe Black Pearl Gate is an exciting choice for young readers who enjoy ocean mysteries, survival adventures, hidden worlds, unusual creatures, family secrets and stories that remain suspenseful until the final pages.

Some competitions are won with speed. Others reveal what lies beneath.Fourteen-year-old Maia Teva has returned to the Polynesian island of Mahana to compete in the legendary Black Pearl Challenge—a demanding contest of diving skill, underwater navigation and courage.Winning could help Maia's family and prove that she is no longer the frightened girl who once froze beneath the water. But during the final challenge, Maia discovers something that was never meant to be found: a strange black pearl marked with a perfect spiral, hidden inside the forbidden Broken Crown reef.The moment she reaches for it, the reef opens.Maia and three young rivals—confident local champion Tane, determined Saffy and Maia's inventive younger brother Noah—are dragged through a violent underwater passage and into the Hollow Sea, a vast secret world concealed beneath the island.There, nothing behaves as it should.Coral preserves voices from the past. Transparent Glass Rays communicate through patterns of light. Blind Current Hounds hunt by detecting heartbeats. A mischievous shell-backed creature steals the pearl that may be the children's only way home. And somewhere in the deepest chamber, an enormous creature known as the Bellmouth is beginning to wake.With a storm closing in, their equipment failing and the hidden world becoming increasingly unstable, the four young divers must overcome rivalry, fear and suspicion if they are to survive.But the Hollow Sea holds an even greater secret.Their parents discovered this world twenty-five years earlier—and lied about what happened there.As the adults race through a dangerous second entrance to find the missing children, old guilt and dangerous ambition return with them. Someone has come back not merely to rescue the children, but to take something powerful from the Hollow Sea.Now Maia must confront more than the dangers beneath the reef. She must face her fear of deep water, her divided family, the pressure to prove herself and the painful discovery that adults do not always tell the truth.To save her friends, her family and an entire hidden ecosystem, Maia will have to learn that courage does not mean feeling no fear.It means deciding what matters more.Why young readers will love itA fast-paced underwater adventure filled with action, danger and suspenseAn original hidden world populated by mysterious and unusual creaturesA diving competition, secret passages, storms, escapes and unexpected betrayalsStrong young characters with different talents, weaknesses and personalitiesMeaningful themes of friendship, sibling relationships, family secrets and trustA coming-of-age story about courage, identity and learning to ask for helpEnvironmental themes woven naturally into an exciting mystery15 atmospheric black-and-white illustrations placed throughout the storyThe Black Pearl Gate is an exciting choice for young readers who enjoy ocean mysteries, survival adventures, hidden worlds, unusual creatures, family secrets and stories that remain suspenseful until the final pages.