The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch

I liked Border Songs so much that I had to read this book. It's a good story, and I read it in a day. It's about a young boy, Miles O'Malley, who lives on Skookumchuck Bay near Olympia, WA. I don't think there is a bay named that, but it's the name of a river, and the area he describes certainly could exist near Olympia.

Miles is very aware of the life on the tidal flats near him, and a big fan of Rachel Carson's books.

This is basically a coming-of-age story, overlaid with a little ecological awareness and sense of setting.