Mythical sea stories with mermaids at the center, can add Gem and her clan of merpeople to the list.
Roxie Thomas is a freelance ocean photographer who gets an assignment in New Zealand, and takes her nine-year-old triplets along. The girls look forward to volunteering and joining the efforts to help free a pregnant beached whale. They take advantage of the 14-hour long flight, and beg their mother to tell them the mermaid story. They love hearing the fantasy tale she’s been sharing with them for years.
What the girls don’t know, is that the events in the story are really a watered down version, of a magical time from Roxie’s own past. A past buried in New Zealand; on an island she hadn’t been back to in ten years. Telling the story again stirs up memories, and soon Roxie is more excited to arrive than her daughters are. But she’s also concerned about a phone conversation with David, her husband. He’s a marine biologist, and is already in New Zealand, working on a related assignment. David suspects something ominous might be happening in the waters near the island. His research equipment has recorded some unusual activity that could be affecting the sea life. Roxie’s biggest fear is that her old friend is still in the area, and may be in some kind of danger.
Through the grown up eyes of Roxie Thomas, Gem is introduced; a young, impulsive flipper from the Nesirkie clan. Gem ignores the rules of the merpeople and befriends one of the tail-less. What Roxie doesn’t reveal is that the young human girl in the story is the least of the merpeople’s problems that summer.
With this book, the stage is set, and readers get acquainted with the beliefs, philosophies, and goings on in the merworld, as described by Gem, via her human friend.
BOOK EXCERPT:
Roxie looked cautiously around the dimly lit section of the airplane where they were seated. Although her and the children were the only ones within earshot, she began speaking in a low, conspiratorial tone.
“You know girls, when you live on an island in the South Pacific, it’s not unusual to hear all kinds of sea stories about mythical creatures and sea dwellers. To the islanders, folklore about mermaids and merpeople are much more than just a fairytale. They take their stories seriously and they’re not shared with just anyone. So the mermaid story is like a secret that only us Thomas girls can ever know about.” She gave each of them a warning stare and didn’t even smile. They loved it.
“This story is never to be repeated, except when you’re older and you have your own daughters to pass the secret on to. But you must be sure to forbid them from ever sharing the story with anyone else, except for their daughters.”
“Why mommy? How come we can’t tell anyone else?”
As usual, Opalene asked the same question, each time she heard the story, and as usual, her sisters hushed her up. “Leelee!” “Yeah. Be quiet Leelee!”
Roxie gave her a quick explanation so she could move on. “Well, the reason you can’t tell everyone is because this is a magical story and it’s not for everyone’s ears. If you share it with too many people, the magic will be broken. So whoever is lucky enough to hear the story, they have to be sure and follow the rules about who to repeat the story to.”
The girls all managed to stifle their giggles, and pretend to put on a serious face. “Alright ladies, before I can go on, you all have to swear to secrecy with a pinky swear.” The girls played along. After each of them locked their pinky fingers together and swore to keep the secret, Roxie continued.
This story is about a little girl named Queenie and the summer she met some mermaids on her grandfather’s island. Even though Queenie would end up meeting and making friends with more than one mermaid that summer, the very first one she ever met was named Gem. Gem became one of Queenie’ very best friends, and thanks to her, Queenie learned to stop being afraid of the water.
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