Tatevik Avakyan – illustratör

In this start to a new series starring Shelly the mermaid, a classroom conflict is no fun—even when school is 20,000 leagues under the sea.It’s MerGirl Shelly Siren’s first day at a new school, and she is nervous from the tip of her head to the end of her sparkling mermaid tail. How will she ever fit in at the prestigious Trident Academy? Everyone there is so smart and so pretty and so rich. At least she and her best friend, Echo, are in the same class, but so is Pearl, a spoiled know-it-all who only wants to make trouble for Shelly; Rocky, a MerBoy who loves to tease everyone; and Kiki, a shy MerGirl who’s new to Trident City.     At first Shelly and Echo have lots of fun: eating lunch together, trying to make grumpy Mr. Fangtooth smile, and joining after-school clubs. But when Shelly and Echo have an argument about their very first school assignment, Pearl gets involved and makes matters worse. Will Shelly and Echo fix their friendship?

In this splashy new Mermaid Tale, a megapopular boy band is set to perform at an undersea celebration—but what if a mean girl keeps Shelly from joining in the fun?Echo, Shelly Siren’s best friend, is doing tail flips because she’s going to see the hottest boy band around—The Rays! It’s her classmate Pearl’s birthday, and the Rays are going to perform at her exclusive party. Troublemaker Pearl has invited just about everyone—everyone, that is, except Shelly! Shelly urges Echo to go anyway, but Echo doesn’t want to leave her friend out of the exciting celebration…so Shelly hatches a plan to make sure Echo sees her favorite group. And when the Rays do come to town (amidst plenty of under-the-sea, boy band drama), Echo returns the favor so that Shelly is included in the festivities—in the most unexpected of ways!

In this sparkling Mermaid Tales adventure, can Kiki overcome her fears and enjoy her first-ever trip to the ocean’s surface? The third graders at Trident Academy are traveling to the surface of the ocean for the first time ever for a “hugely” exciting activity: They’re going to visit a pod of humpback whales! But Kiki is less than thrilled. In fact, she’s scared from the top of her head to the tip of her tail. After all, the enormous creatures could swallow her (and maybe her entire class) in one giant gulp! Kiki’s pals Shelly and Echo try to help shrink her fears, and when a new friend comes along—a very big, whale-size friend—Kiki’s courage emerges, and the fun looms large.

Pearl’s fear of sharks is not unfounded—but can she find a way to feel safe in this Mermaid Tales adventure?Late-breaking news from the Trident City Tide: There have been shark sightings in Trident City! No swimming alone! Pearl’s father even hires a Shark Guard to escort her to school. Pearl starts stirring up lots of trouble with anything that has to do with sharks, even denouncing the skeleton Kiki has in her room. And then, to make matters worse, Pearl accuses Kiki of stealing her precious pearl necklace! And though the undersea waters are indeed filled with danger, Pearl just might discover that true friends can provide a sense of safety!

In this Mermaid Tales adventure, Shelly’s not sure she’s ready to be royalty.Not one of the merkids in Shelly Siren’s third grade class can believe the shell-shattering news: Shelly is a princess! A real princess! It’s been a deep, dark secret in Trident City, but now everyone knows—and Shelly doesn’t know how to act. Should she start wearing a glittery crown? Or move to a grand undersea palace? Will her friends have to call her Princess Shelly? She knows it’s an exciting turn of events, but Shelly’s not sure she can truly fit the royal part. Can she find a way to be a princess and stay herself?

Echo Reef loves sea horses so much, she wants one for a pet…no matter what!Of all the creatures in the ocean, sea horses are Echo Reef’s favorite. They’re sweet and gentle and they glide through the water so gracefully. When Echo discovers that Rocky Ridge, one of her Trident Academy classmates, has his own pet sea horse, she wants one right away. Not everyone agrees sea horses should be pets, however—perhaps they are happiest when swimming freely. But Echo thinks that if Rocky can make a sea horse happy, she can too! Can’t she?

Kiki Coral can see the future—can she save a friend from his dangerous fate?Kiki Coral has an amazing gift: she can see the future. She doesn’t have visions very often, but they are always surprising! When Kiki sees a vision of her classmate Rocky Ridge coming face-to-frightening-face with a gigantic leatherback turtle, she is frightened to the tip of her shiny purple tail. Can Kiki save Rocky from his dangerous fate? What if no one in Trident Academy believes her scary prediction?

The merkids hunt for hidden treasure in this Mermaid Tales adventure!When Rocky finds a seaweed scroll that describes an abandoned pirate ship bursting with jewels, the students are tripping over their tails with excitement. There’s only one problem: the treasure is supposedly guarded by pirate ghosts! But a few “silly ghosts” aren’t going to keep prima donna Pearl away from fame, fortune, and “diamonds as big as a merman’s fist.” The hunt is on! Pearl recruits fellow merkids Rocky and Wanda to help her track down the treasure by swimming all the way past Whale Mountain. But when they discover the pirate ship, they hear eerie moans and groans coming from within. What’s making those sounds? Could the pirate ghosts be real? And can the merkids get the jewels before becoming someone’s—or something’s—lunch?

When Shelly meets the Queen of the Western Oceans in this Mermaid Tales adventure, she encounters a royal dilemma!When a royal messenger announces that Queen Edwina is coming to tea, Shelly is as jittery as a jellyfish! After all, the Queen of the Western Oceans is her great aunt. And despite being a princess, Shelly has never met a queen before. How should she act? What should she wear? Then Pearl tells Shelly that the queen is going to take Shelly to live in Neptune’s Castle: “It’s where a real princess would live,” Pearl tells her. Shelly is terrified of leaving her home, friends, and beloved grandfather behind. When the royal carriage arrives, she’s trembling from the top of her head to the tip of her tail. What will Queen Edwina think of Princess Shelly? And will she really take Shelly away from the home she loves?

Echo is thrilled to find a human object in this Mermaid Tales adventure, but will sibling rivalry keep her from appreciating her prize?Echo is dogfish tired of having to share everything with her bossy big sister, Crystal. So she’s extra excited when she stumbles upon a shiny human object near her shell. Finally, something of her very own! Echo is obsessed with people, so she’s very curious as to what her fin-tastic human find might be. Could it be something totally wavy, like a music-making machine? What if it’s something that could allow her to actually talk to humans? Before she can find out, Crystal swipes the object, claiming she found it first! Echo is steaming mad. After the mergirls duke it out in a messy tug of war, their mother takes the object away. “You’ll get this back when you can learn to get along,” she tells them. But that’s easier said than done. How far is Echo willing to go to get her precious human object back?

A lost baby polar bear shares the spotlight with a popular boy band in this Mermaid Tales adventure.Kiki Coral is thrilled beyond words when she meets a brand-new friend: a baby polar bear! The problem is, the little bear, whose name is Nestor, has floated away from home on a patch of ice and now he’s lost, hungry, and all alone!Kiki, Shelly, and Echo want to send Nestor back to his home on the Manta Ray Express, but a one-way ticket costs a whopping four jewels! That’s a fortune! Not to mention, all anyone at school can talk about is the Rays, who are performing a concert in Poseidon. Kiki loves the cute boy band as much as the next mergirl, but what about Nestor? Isn’t saving him more important than a concert?Can Kiki and her friends find a fun way to send their new furry friend home—and hang out with the Rays in the process?

Pearl is excited to make a splash on stage—but she’s in for some drama in this Mermaid Tales adventure.Pearl has always dreamed of being famous: the star-studded stage, the sea flowers, the applause! So when she finds out that her third grade class is performing The Little Human, she just knows she’ll get the leading role. Especially since world-renowned merstar Angelfish Molie is judging the tryouts! But in a shocking turn of events, Pearl’s best friend, Wanda, gets cast as the little human instead…and Pearl is stuck playing the stinky sea witch. Pearl can’t believe her best friend would steal her dream role from her. After Pearl tries—and fails—to get Wanda to trade parts, she decides to quit the play. Are Pearl’s dreams of being a sea star doomed? And can she and Wanda patch up their friendship before it goes up in bubbles?

Shelly Siren and her friends visit King Neptune’s royal castle and attend their first ball in this Mermaid Tales adventure.Shelly, Echo, Kiki, and Pearl are spending their school vacation at Neptune’s castle! Shelly’s aunt, Queen Edwina, has invited the girls to stay for a whole week, and while they’re there the girls can’t wait to visit the Royal Orca Museum, see the Palace Library, ride seahorses, and maybe even attend a royal ball. Shelly is nervous about meeting her royal family, especially since she’s never felt like a princess. But when she arrives at the castle, she is welcomed with curtsies, bows, and sea flowers. Queen Edwina even gives Shelly a sparkling tiara that she once wore as a young princess. Just as Shelly starts to relax and have fun, the tiara disappears and the girls have to find it before the queen finds out! The mergirls have a real mermystery on their fins! But will they be able to figure out who took the tiara before Shelly’s royal visit turns into a royal disaster?

In this sparkling Mermaid Tales adventure, Echo hurts her tail when she falls off of a sea horse—right before the big Tail Flippers competition! Will she still be able to flip her way to a trophy?Echo loves dancing in the Trident Academy Tail Flippers. When she’s not dancing, she also loves riding sea horses, so when a classmate offers to let her ride their newest horse, Pinky, she doesn’t think twice! But when a slithery eel darts in front of Pinky, Echo gets knocked off and hits a rock. Her entire body aches—from scales to tail—so she heads to the doctor. Dr. Weedy tells Echo that moving her tail is absolutely out of the question. Not only can Echo not swim, but even worse, she can’t compete in the Poseidon Tail Flippers team competition! And Echo’s their star flipper. Without Echo’s tricks and flips, Trident City’s team doesn’t stand a chance. Echo’s friends find a pair of human crutches, which help her get around without the use of her tail. But that doesn’t solve the Tail Flipping problem! Will Echo find a way to help her team win from the sidelines?

Kiki wants to start a book club, but Pearl tries to steal the spotlight with a rival fashion club in this sparkling Mermaid Tales adventure.Kiki misses her brother, Yuta, who lives on the other side of the ocean. To help keep in touch, the two of them start a book club, and Kiki decides it would be fun to expand the club for all of Trident Academy. But Pearl doesn’t want anything to do with a boring book club. Instead, she decides she’s going to make the best club ever: a fashion club! Pearl will do anything to make sure the other students join her club instead of Kiki’s, and offers free food, candy, and even prizes to draw them in. But will it be enough? Who will win the battle of the clubs?