by Debbie Dadey
VERSE 2:
Pearl likes to shine
Oh my Neptune, she looks so fine
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 3:
Shining Echo f lips her tail
Backward and forward without fail
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 4:
Amazing Kiki
Far from home and f loating so free
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
Author’s Note
MERMAIDS COME IN all sizes, colors, and shapes, but very few mermaids can’t swim. I was proud of Echo’s friends when they helped her find a way to get to school. Especially surprising was the way Pearl came up with a big idea to save the day! Sometimes Pearl thinks only of herself, so I was glad this time she helped her whole team. I hope we can all be like that for our friends and help them out when they need us.
Swim free and visit me at:
www.debbiedadey.com
Debbie Dadey
Glossary
ALLIS SHAD: The allis shad is a herring that is also called the May fish. In April or May it leaves the ocean to swim into rivers to lay eggs.
BALLOON FISH: This fish, also known as the spiny porcupine fish, can grow to three times its normal size by taking in water or air.
BARNACLE: These crustaceans attach to rocks and even ships.
BARREL SPONGE: This sponge has been known to get quite large but has a hard surface.
BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY: This water bird lives on the rocky coasts of islands and hunts for fish in the water. The adults have bright turquoise-blue feet.
BOXFISH: The yellow boxfish is rather square shaped. When it is scared, it can release poison through its skin into the water around it.
CHAIN MORAY EEL: Most moray eels can survive out of water for short periods of time, as long as their skin stays wet.
CONCH: This large sea snail has one of the most beautiful shells of any ocean creature.
CONGER EEL: This big gray eel has probably scared many treasure hunters. It likes to stick its head out of holes and crevices in wrecked ships and reefs.
CORAL: Some tiny corals work together to build huge coral reefs.
DRAGONFISH: This deep-sea fish is small but has very large teeth. Like many deep-sea fish, it can glow!
DUGONG: The dugong looks a lot like a manatee. It lives on the ocean floor, grazing in sea-grass beds.
DUMBO OCTOPUS: Dumbo octopi live in the deep sea and have very large fins that look like ears.
EUROPEAN EEL: This eel swims thousands of miles to lay its eggs.
GULPER EEL: This fish has a small head and little eyes with a huge mouth and enormous jaws.
HAWKSBILL SEA TURTLE: The hawksbill sea turtle shell is the chief source of tortoiseshell, which is often collected for its beauty. Mermaids, however, have learned to use only shells from turtles that have died naturally.
KELP: Kelp is the large brown seaweed that grows in underwater forests.
MANDARIN FISH: The mandarin fish is one of the most colorful of all reef fish; however, its skin is covered with slime!
MANTA RAY: One of the giants of the sea, manta rays can be twenty-three feet wide, which is longer than a car.
PLANKTON: Plankton are the tiny creatures that many ocean animals, such as whales, use for food.
PRICKLY REDFISH: This sea cucumber crawls along the ocean floor. It looks like a big shaggy mop!
RIBBON EEL: Ribbon eels like to hide in the cracks in a coral reef.
SAILFISH: The sailfish is the fastest fish in the ocean. It can keep the same pace as the fastest land animal, the cheetah, which can run seventy miles per hour!
SAND BUBBLER CRAB: If you see hundreds of perfectly formed balls of sand on the shore, chances are tiny one-inch sand bubbler crabs are around. These crabs make sand balls while gathering small bits of food. One crab can make twelve balls in a minute.
SAND DOLLAR: The flat, round sand dollar is actually a type of sea urchin.
SCURVY GRASS: Scurvy grass grows along the shore. Its thick green leaves were once eaten to prevent a disease called scurvy.
SEA FAN: Sea fans are sometimes called sea whips. They anchor themselves in sand or mud. Most are nocturnal, which means they are awake at night.
SEA HARE: The sea hare is a type of sea slug, but its tentacles stick up to make it look like a rabbit or hare.
SEA HORSE: Sea horses are fish, but they are bad swimmers! They prefer to hold on to coral or seaweed to stay in one place.
SEA ROSE: A sea creature called a Spanish dancer makes egg ribbons that look very much like a beautiful red rose.
SLENDER SNIPE EEL: This long, thin eel has jaws shaped like a bird’s bill. Because of the way the ends are turned out, it can never close its mouth!
SPOTTED GARDEN EEL: This tiny eel looks like a flower sprouting up from the ocean floor.
STARGAZER: The common stargazer looks like a mix of a bulldog and a seal! This fish likes to lie partly buried in the sand.
VENUS COMB: This sea snail has a shell that looks a lot like a comb.
WEEVER FISH: This brown fish likes to bury itself partly in the sand around the English shoreline. But beware—if you step on one, it will hurt!
FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT . . .
A Special Letter
KIKI CORAL WAS SWIMMING to her dorm room after school one Friday when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Miss Coral,” Madame Hippocampus announced. “You have a letter.”
“Thanks,” Kiki said as Madame handed her a kelp envelope. Kiki smiled as she raced down the hallway toward her Trident Academy dorm room. She nearly bumped into a mergirl from her third-grade class.
“Watch out, for shark’s sake!” Pearl Swamp snapped.
“Sorry,” Kiki said, still clutching her letter. Her heart pounded in excitement. Kiki loved getting notes from her family in the Eastern Oceans. It made going to school so far away, in the Western Oceans, a little easier.
She soared through her doorway and swam straight to her killer-whale skeleton bed. Once she had curled her purple tail among the gray heron feathers, Kiki ripped open the letter.
Dear Kiki,
Hi! How is school? I wish I could go 2 Trident 2.
Guess what? My friends started a book club! We are reading a scary book. I will show it 2 u when u get home!
Miss u,
Yuta
Kiki read the letter twice and blinked back a tear. Her brother Yuta was a year younger than she was. She had been very close to him ever since they were small fry. Now that she went to school so far away, she really missed him.
Kiki glanced around her dorm room. Rainbow-colored jellyfish lamps hung from the curved ceiling, and a small waterfall tinkled gently in a corner. One whole wall glittered with plankton. A magnificent coral reef made up another wall. Kiki knew she was lucky to have such a fin-tastic space all to herself. At home her brothers had to share bedrooms.
But living all by herself could be lonely. Sometimes she wished she had someone to talk to. Fridays were the worst, because her best friends, Echo and Shelly, usually spent Friday evenings with their families. Many students who lived in the dorms also left to visit relatives.
At least she had plenty of books to read! Kiki looked at her tall rock bookcase and smiled. She had read every book on her shelf again and again. Reading stories always helped Kiki feel less lonesome.
Kiki read Yuta’s letter one more time before jumping up and down with excitement. Even though Yuta was far away, he had given her a mer-velous idea!
Dr. Bottom
THE FOLLOWING MONDAY, Kiki couldn’t wait to tell her merfriends about her idea. She had read in a book that humans had a device that allowed them to talk to people far away. Kiki wished she had one of those.
“Where are they?” Kiki tapped her purple tail on the classroom floor. If Shelly and Echo didn’t swim in soon, they would be tardy. Their teacher, Mrs. Karp, was already
at the front of the class. Just as the conch sounded to start the school day, Shelly, Echo, and a merboy named Rocky swooshed into the room.
Mrs. Karp raised a green eyebrow at the almost-late arrivals before starting her lesson. “Class, today we will start a new area of study. Who can tell me about symbiosis?”
“I know! I know!” Rocky called out. “That’s where you bang two shiny things together to make a really loud noise.”
“Not quite,” Mrs. Karp said. “Symbiosis is when two different creatures live together in the same environment.”
Kiki raised her hand. She remembered her father talking about that last year, before she had come to Trident Academy. “Don’t the clownfish and the anemone do that?”
Mrs. Karp smiled and slapped her white tail on the classroom floor. “That’s exactly right. And each one helps the other. The clownfish gets a safe home, and in return it cleans the anemone and even makes waste for it to eat. This is called mutualism.”
Pearl gagged and twisted her pearl necklace. “That’s disgusting!”
Mrs. Karp shrugged. “That’s science. Today we have a special guest who will tell us more about different symbiotic relationships. Students, please welcome Dr. Bottom.” Kiki knew that Dr. Bottom usually taught fourth grade, but he sometimes switched with other teachers to teach science, his favorite subject.
“Good morning, Dr. Bottom,” the merstudents said together. Rocky snickered when he said the science teacher’s last name, but a quick look from Mrs. Karp silenced him.
“GOOD MORNING, CLASS!” Dr. Bottom shouted.
Kiki almost fell out of her chair. She quickly figured out that Dr. Bottom was hard of hearing. Over the next two hours he screamed his lesson about three different types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Kiki tried to pay attention, but her mind kept wandering to her great idea.
When Dr. Bottom was finally finished, Kiki raced to the cafeteria for lunch. She hoped her friends would love her idea too.
Debbie Dadey is the author and coauthor of more than one hundred and sixty children’s books, including the series The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. A former teacher and librarian, Debbie and her family live in Sevierville, Tennessee. She hopes you’ll visit www.debbiedadey.com for lots of mermaid fun.
Aladdin
SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
authors.simonandschuster.com/Debbie-Dadey
authors.simonandschuster.com/Tatevik-Avakyan
Also by
Debbie Dadey
MERMAID TALES
BOOK 1: TROUBLE AT TRIDENT ACADEMY
BOOK 2: BATTLE OF THE BEST FRIENDS
BOOK 3: A WHALE OF A TALE
BOOK 4: DANGER IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA
BOOK 5: THE LOST PRINCESS
BOOK 6: THE SECRET SEA HORSE
BOOK 7: DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLE
BOOK 8: TREASURE IN TRIDENT CITY
BOOK 9: A ROYAL TEA
BOOK 10: A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
BOOK 11: THE POLAR BEAR EXPRESS
BOOK 12: WISH UPON A STARFISH
BOOK 13: THE CROOK AND THE CROWN
Coming Soon
BOOK 15: BOOKS VS. LOOKS
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
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This Aladdin hardcover edition May 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by Debbie Dadey
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Tatevik Avakyan
Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.
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Series designed by Karin Paprocki
Jacket designed by Karina Granda
The text of this book was set in Belucian Book.
Library of Congress Control Number 2015959474
ISBN 978-1-4814-4079-0 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-4078-3 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-4080-6 (eBook)