Niece’s mermaid tale hits shelves

My 7-year-old great-niece told a mermaids’ tail, and it’s now a published book.
Oops. I mean: a mermaids’ tale.
Yes, my great-niece Anabelle Rose Lundy wrote a book at age 7, “Three and a Half Mermaids,” and now at age 12 she’s seeing it published. Just in time for Christmas, it’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and a host of other sites.

And please notice my great-niece’s middle “family” name. “Rose” has origins not only with yours truly, but also with her great-great grandmother Rose Gunter and her great-grandmother Rose Lundy. We’re a very floral family.
Regarding the book’s origin, Anabelle says that one day after school she told her grandmother, my sister, Dianne Hollis Lundy, “I want to try a book.” So for about an hour, Anabelle thought about the plot of this mermaid saga. “It just came to me,” she said. She then dictated the story to Sister, who typed it into her laptop.
That’s not the only family tie. Multiple people in her generational tree are published authors, and the book is illustrated by none other than her great-uncle Hooshang Khorasani – my husband – who has a background as an award-winning children’s book illustrator.
The plot revolves around three mermaid sisters who live with their mermaid mother in a golden kingdom under the sea. One day, the two oldest sisters, Anabelle and Audrie, go out to play, but stay too long and are captured by an octopus. It’s all right, though; he turns out to be friendly. In the process, the sisters have a great adventure and learn an important lesson.
Hooshang chose to illustrate the book with actual pictures of Anabelle and Audrie, along with their younger sister, Avery, and their mother, Brittany Aline. Well, that is – with illustrations that included portions of their actual photos.
Why chose Uncle Hoo? “Obviously, he’s a great artist,” Anabelle said. “The Number 1 pick.”
As for her assessment of her uncle’s work on this project, she’s pleased with the outcome. “The illustrations represent what I had imagined for the characters, personally,” she said.
Family members – including her father, Jonathan – are delighted by Anabelle’s accomplishment. Sister Audrie, 10, said, “I’m so proud of Anabelle for writing a book. It’s quite an accomplishment for a person of her age.” Sister Avery, 7, added that she is happy Anabelle wrote a chapter book so that she can show her friends in class.
Mom Brittany offers this view: “She has always had the unique ability to see things exactly as they are, but also as she imagines them to be, and here she makes them collide into one wonderful story.”
And some folks are just amazed. Anabelle recalls that one day in school she and her classmates were playing the game Two Truths and a Lie, “and I said I wrote a book that would be published, and they were kind of skeptical.”
As for Anabelle herself? “I’m just excited.”
If any other young would-be authors are wondering what kind of advice Anabelle might give them, she advises, “Go with it. If you have an idea, just do it because you never know how it’ll turn out.”
Not surprisingly, Anabelle is now thinking about writing Part 2 of the mermaid story. That’s going to take a little longer than an hour, though, so you’ll have to wait a bit. I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s finished.
Meanwhile, why not go online and discover the secrets of “Three and a Half Mermaids”? After all, what in the world is the meaning of “half a mermaid”?