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I’m kicking off a picture book author Interview series and I’m excited to start by sharing the picture book “Mermaid for a Day” by Juliet Jenson with all of you.
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First, can you tell me why parents and caregivers might want to pick your book? Especially when there are so many mermaid books out there?
Juliet: There are lots of wonderful mermaid books out there, but I wrote “Mermaid for a Day” half for kids and half for caregivers. I wanted to write the kind of book that kids would want to have read to them again and again, while also writing the kind of book that parents would be eager to read to them.
What I really mean is I wanted to create a book that is fun, beautiful, adventurous and full of magic, so it’s exciting for kids.
And I wanted to make it short, easy to read aloud (it rhymes), and to let the pictures do most of the talking for the parents. I know for my own kids, I love reading to them before bed, but some nights the books they want read to them are 50 pages long, with dense text, and I die inside a little. Don’t get me wrong, I love those big books during the day, but before bed I want something fun, and also something short enough to keep their attention. (I’m usually reading to my boys ages 4 & 7 if that helps set the stage)
Can you briefly sum up what the story is about?
Juliet: Sure. It kicks off with a little girl saving a fish who grants her wish to become a mermaid, but only for a day. She spends the rest of the book doing what I think we’d all want to do if we were mermaids as kids, she swims with dolphins, plays dress up with other mermaid friends, builds seashell puzzles, paints with an octopus, plays seaweed hide and seek, explores a sunken pirate ship and more.
Each page is a mini activity that kids can hopefully relate to, with a mermaid twist to it.
What inspired you to write this particular book?
Juliet: Well my daughter had just been born, and I’d been looking for a creative project and this just kind of came to me. Kind of Animorphs for 5 year olds. I typed out the first few drafts of the story while doing middle of the night feedings, and it was just so fun I couldn’t stop.
Do you have a favorite page?
Juliet: I honestly love so many of them, but I think my top two might be the first page of the book, where she’s throwing the fish back into the sea, or the seaweed hide and seek page. I just feel like visually, they were the two the came out so much better than I dared to hope.
Thank you so much. One last question, if you could have any super power, what would it be, and why?
Juliet: I would definitely love either super speed or the ability to stop time for everyone except me. 🙂 I have so many ideas and things I want to do, but there never seems to be enough time to do even a fraction of them.
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Thank you so much for sharing this, and if any readers are interested, “Mermaid For A Day” is on sale now on Amazon with both a paperback and ebook, and soon it will be available through all major book retailers.