Stella: In Search of Elderfish is latest title in series

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Glenn Carley, a local Bolton author, has published numerous books over the years, including the first book in his beloved series, The One About Stella: A Little Fish.

Now, Carley invites Stella lovers back into the whimsical underwater world as he releases book two in the series, “Stella: In Search of Elderfish.”

In this book, Stella the Rainbow Trout and her friends deal with new challenges and adventures on the Great River. 

Readers will be able to watch the story unfold as Stella and her friends seek to consult with ElderFish, the great river sturgeon, and along the way face real-world challenges such as pollution and predators.

Readers will be happy to know about the return of numerous characters from the first book, including Slingo the Salamander and Pliny the Osprey.

What began as a bedtime story for Carley's daughter, Adriana, has become a world of adventure for young readers and their parents to enjoy in Caledon and beyond.

Carley grew up in a literary world, enjoying books sent to him from his aunt around Christmastime, often stuffed with chocolate.

“Once you start reading, you want to start writing,” says Carley.

He began writing in his 20s and has since published works such as Polenta at Midnight: Tales of Gusto and Enchantment in North York; Jimmy Crack Corn: A Novel in C Minor; and other children's books, including The Long Story of Mount Pester.

He also worked for numerous years as Chief Social Worker in a Toronto-area school board, where he was able to take a year off for professional development in 2007.

During that year, Carley could often be found up at 6 a.m. writing away at his desk with a coffee in hand.

It was in this year that Polenta at Midnight: Tales of Gusto and Enchantment in North York was published.

From there, he continued writing, often drawing on inspirations from his own life, including where he grew up, and his family.

When Adriana was about eight years old, every night she would ask him, “Can we tell a story, but can it be the one about Stella?”

Carley says that he wanted to honour that time “as father and daughter.”

In the Stella series, the perspective is from the trout's eyes as it explores the underwater world, which Carley says stems from his time as a scuba diver and Adriana's own scuba-diving experience where they got to enjoy the underwater world together.

Carley credits Adriana as his “co-imagineer” and inspiration of the series, often working together and bouncing ideas off one another.

“The beautiful thing to me as a father is that with all four Stella stories, because they're told initially as a bedtime tale to a daughter, all the characters, the majority are female girls, and I love that,” says Carley. “It's about going for the solution, problem-solving, and being adventurous.”

“It's really about their adventures, and still a coming-of-age, which I think is beautiful.”

Carley says his readership is everything to him.

For every new book he releases, he saves a copy for the Caledon Public Library.

In the Stella series in particular, Carley pushed to work with an illustrator for the covers and recruited Shelagh Armstrong.

Armstrong is a Canadian illustrator who shares her enthusiasm for painting by teaching part-time at Sheridan College.

“I like the notion of bringing other people's art into my art, and I also like the notion of installation art, which means you participate in it.”

The Stella series aligns very much with Carley's love of installation art; each book is accompanied by pages after each chapter where readers can draw what they envision themselves.

“What do you think Stella looks like to you?” says Carley. “They're hearing it, they're imagining it, and they're trying to comprehend it, and now they get a chance to talk about their imagination and express that, it all kind of helps with comprehension, which I find beautiful.”

Each book also begins with a hand-drawn map done by Carley and Adriana, adding a personal touch to each story.

In the new book in the series, readers will follow Stella on her journey and learn about real issues impacting the Great River, where Carley introduces real-life problems and solutions, such as pollution and conservation efforts.

Growing up near the water himself, Carley says he likes to add accuracy to his books and essential topics.

With his new book set to hit the shelves this month, Carley encourages the community to make the shift to shop local.

For Carley, he notes that if he's going to spend the price of a coffee, he'd rather spend a little more and support a local author.

With his series, Carley hopes that children can enjoy and participate in it, and that it will encourage budding young authors.

To him, dreams are like arrows, and even though they don't always land exactly where you want them to, it's important that you follow them again and again, he says.

“It really is important to have a dream as a writer, to be tenacious, and to get your arrows.”

Following Stella: In Search of ElderFish will be the next two books in the series: book three, Stella: A Rescuer in the Wetlands, and book four, Stella: A Curious Migration, both in press in 2026 at Rock's Mills Press.

To find his newest book, eager readers can seek it out at rocksmillspress.com, as well as at the Caledon Public Library, as always.