A farm girl with a big imagination turns her landlocked home into an ocean playground in this dreamy picture book for little mermaids everywhere.
A little girl dreams of adventures in the water and feels the spirit of the ocean all around her . . . even though she lives on the prairie, with flat land as far as the eye can see. But she won't let a little detail like that stand in the way of being a meadow mermaid! Frolicking in the "waves" of wheat and "oceans" of grass, spying sea horses and . . . a shipwrecked sailor? Even if that shipwreck is actually an overturned bike and the sailor a new kid from a neighboring field, it's still a chance to make a new friend, one with an imagination as expansive and a love of the ocean as deep as the little girl's own.
This fanciful, whimsical picture book will charm young mermaids and little pirates everywhere, and inspire them to embrace the spirit of the ocean in the things around them, no matter where they live!
LONGLIST
| 2024 Green Earth Book Award
"A whimsical homage to imaginary play and friendship. . . . Joyful and memorable." —Kirkus Reviews
"Poetic in an unpretentious way, George’s graceful text uses apt imagery and reads aloud beautifully. MacKay’s artwork, created by photographing paper dioramas, helps viewers imagine the meadow mermaid’s moments of drama as well as her magical surroundings. . . . This enjoyable picture book celebrates the power of a child’s imagination." —Booklist
"This wonderful picture book will have you longing for the adventure and imagination of childhood. Children and parents will be swept away." —Story Monsters Ink
“[A] beautiful celebration of waving wheat fields and starlit nights, and also a tribute to the friendship between two children.”—Winnipeg Free Press
"With a beautiful and poetic narrative arc told by a meadow mermaid, this awe-inspiring tale sends a message to young readers that anything is possible so long as you believe." —Young Adulting
"The spare but poetic text is accompanied by pictures long on atmosphere but short on fine detail. Together, they move the reader past the here-and-now fields of grass to conjure a sense of waves tossing on the sea." —CM: Canadian Review of Materials
KALLIE GEORGE is an author, editor and creative writing teacher. She has written numerous books for early readers, including the first five books in the Anne chapter book series (Anne Arrives, Anne's Kindred Spirits, Anne's School Days, Anne's Tragical Tea Party and Anne Dares), The Magical Animal Adoption Agency series, The Heartwood Hotel series and The Wings of Olympus series, as well as numerous picture books, such as Goodnight, Anne, If I Couldn't Be Anne, Merry Christmas, Anne, The Secret Fawn, I am a Meadow Mermaid and The Lost Gift. Kallie currently lives in Vancouver, BC.
View titles by Kallie George
ELLY MACKAY is a paper artist and a children's book author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated the picture books If You Hold a Seed, Shadow Chasers and Butterfly Park, among others. She studied illustration and printmaking at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Her distinctive pieces are made using paper and ink, and then are set into a miniature theatre and photographed, giving them their unique three-dimensional quality. Elly lives in Owen Sound, Ontario, with her husband and two children.
View titles by Elly MacKay
A farm girl with a big imagination turns her landlocked home into an ocean playground in this dreamy picture book for little mermaids everywhere.
A little girl dreams of adventures in the water and feels the spirit of the ocean all around her . . . even though she lives on the prairie, with flat land as far as the eye can see. But she won't let a little detail like that stand in the way of being a meadow mermaid! Frolicking in the "waves" of wheat and "oceans" of grass, spying sea horses and . . . a shipwrecked sailor? Even if that shipwreck is actually an overturned bike and the sailor a new kid from a neighboring field, it's still a chance to make a new friend, one with an imagination as expansive and a love of the ocean as deep as the little girl's own.
This fanciful, whimsical picture book will charm young mermaids and little pirates everywhere, and inspire them to embrace the spirit of the ocean in the things around them, no matter where they live!
Awards
LONGLIST
| 2024 Green Earth Book Award
Reviews
"A whimsical homage to imaginary play and friendship. . . . Joyful and memorable." —Kirkus Reviews
"Poetic in an unpretentious way, George’s graceful text uses apt imagery and reads aloud beautifully. MacKay’s artwork, created by photographing paper dioramas, helps viewers imagine the meadow mermaid’s moments of drama as well as her magical surroundings. . . . This enjoyable picture book celebrates the power of a child’s imagination." —Booklist
"This wonderful picture book will have you longing for the adventure and imagination of childhood. Children and parents will be swept away." —Story Monsters Ink
“[A] beautiful celebration of waving wheat fields and starlit nights, and also a tribute to the friendship between two children.”—Winnipeg Free Press
"With a beautiful and poetic narrative arc told by a meadow mermaid, this awe-inspiring tale sends a message to young readers that anything is possible so long as you believe." —Young Adulting
"The spare but poetic text is accompanied by pictures long on atmosphere but short on fine detail. Together, they move the reader past the here-and-now fields of grass to conjure a sense of waves tossing on the sea." —CM: Canadian Review of Materials
Author
KALLIE GEORGE is an author, editor and creative writing teacher. She has written numerous books for early readers, including the first five books in the Anne chapter book series (Anne Arrives, Anne's Kindred Spirits, Anne's School Days, Anne's Tragical Tea Party and Anne Dares), The Magical Animal Adoption Agency series, The Heartwood Hotel series and The Wings of Olympus series, as well as numerous picture books, such as Goodnight, Anne, If I Couldn't Be Anne, Merry Christmas, Anne, The Secret Fawn, I am a Meadow Mermaid and The Lost Gift. Kallie currently lives in Vancouver, BC.
View titles by Kallie George
ELLY MACKAY is a paper artist and a children's book author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated the picture books If You Hold a Seed, Shadow Chasers and Butterfly Park, among others. She studied illustration and printmaking at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Her distinctive pieces are made using paper and ink, and then are set into a miniature theatre and photographed, giving them their unique three-dimensional quality. Elly lives in Owen Sound, Ontario, with her husband and two children.
View titles by Elly MacKay
