A little mermaid loses her way on a school outing…
She’s ‘The Mermaid who Came in on The Tide’. The author of this book is Lisa Suhay, journalist and author based in Norfolk, Virginia in the States. Read more about her here.
This story marked the arrival of textures in my Cut-out style. They were the idea of the client’s husband, and I’ll always be grateful to him.
Lisa has two previous books involving mermaids:
- There Goes a Mermaid! A NorFolktale (The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Virginia 2003)
- The Mermaids and Yellow Jack, A NorFolktale (Bon Secours Foundation 2006
The third one in this vein is ‘The Mermaid who Came In With The Tide’
This is where I came in. I’d ‘met’ Lisa via one of her other stories, ‘Heaven’s Dust’, which charmed me and inspired me to contact her with the idea of animating it. So we became FB friends. And when she mentioned the new book in a post, I elbowed my way in there… The result is shown in the slideshows. The book was designed by Peri Gabriel.
The story behind the story
The little mermaid, Laurel, who comes in with the tide (a play on words because The Tide is also the name of the local transit system), is found on the beach by local children. She is lost with no way of getting home. Until her dad sends the tide in to retrieve her.
So in a sense, the story gently points out parallels between fantasy and reality. This lost little mermaid is cared for by the children until she’s able to return home. This echoes the work done by ForKids.Inc in Norfolk, VA.
The book is being sold with proceeds going to ForKids, Norfolk, which provides kids in need with transitional housing, who find themselves in situations not of their choosing. ForKids does great work to assist them and it’s a very worthy recipient of the help the sales of these books will bring.
Mermaids are a Thing in Norfolk. This latest story also weaves a tale of how they came to be there.
The children in the book are portraits of actual children from the author’s neighbourhood. Quin is the author’s son. All the kids who played starring roles had a great time signing books at the launch.
