Castlebury Books

A new children's book series

Something wonderful is surfacing.

Meet Castlebury and a curious crew of ocean friends in warm, illustrated adventures inspired by the Florida Keys.

01
The first adventureThe Treasure of the Coral MazeWritten by Jonathan P. Ward
Coming soon
Parchment field map for The Treasure of the Coral Maze

Book One field mapExplore the Coral Maze artiFACTS

Field note · No. 01Castlebury, a friendly lavender seven-armed octopus
CastleburyCurious by nature
Meet the crew

Meet the crew

Every friend brings a different way of seeing the ocean—and every discovery is better when they explore it together.

Their first adventure is coming soon.

The first Castlebury arc

One map. Six adventures.

The first six books follow one connected journey across a Florida Keys-inspired world. Each story opens a new region of the map, introduces new ocean life, and carries the crew's discoveries into the adventure that follows.

Maps & mysteriesFriendship & belongingReal ocean discovery
artiFACTS story mapDiscover the real ocean life, habitats, and history behind every adventure.
Explore the full map

Inspired by a lifetime on the water.

Jonathan P. Ward is a husband, father of six, entrepreneur, lifelong adventurer, and lover of the water. Childhood days fishing bridges, docks, flats, reefs, and bays became the current beneath Castlebury: stories where curiosity, friendship, and community meet.

A memorable college dive in Hawaii—when a dive master placed an octopus in Jonathan's hands and it explored his arms—deepened his fascination with these curious ocean creatures.

Castlebury first appeared in the silly late-night cartoons Jonathan drew for his kids and left on paper towels for them to find in the morning.