by Debbie Dadey
The Tail Flippers flipped out onto the field. Echo and Pearl surrounded Shelly, and Kiki swam over from the sidelines. “Congratulations!” she shrieked.
“That last play scared the seaweed out of me,” Echo said over the roar of the crowd. “Weren’t you terrified?”
“I didn’t have much time to be afraid,” Shelly admitted, “but I was really grateful to Pearl for breaking the curse. We wouldn’t have won if she hadn’t!”
Pearl smiled. “Except that there wasn’t a curse,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” Shelly asked.
“I made up the cure,” Pearl told them. “All of that stuff we did was fake. There was no magazine article!”
“But—but it worked!” Shelly sputtered.
Pearl winked and said, “Yes, it did, didn’t it?”
Shelly shook her head. “I don’t understand. You tricked me?”
Pearl patted Shelly on the shoulder. “I did it so you’d believe in yourself. You couldn’t play well if you were worried about a curse. So I had to show you that there wasn’t one!”
“I can’t believe the curse wasn’t real!” Echo said.
Pearl shrugged. “Does it matter? We won! Go Trident Academy Tiger Sharks!”
“That was really sweet of you,” Kiki told Pearl. “I had a feeling that the curse wasn’t real, but I didn’t know how to prove it.”
Shelly shook her head. She didn’t know whether she should be mad or grateful. Then she heard the crowd cheering for her team and said, “You know what I think, Pearl? I think I have the best merfriends ever, and that makes me a winner every day!”
Journal Writing
Shelly Siren
Dear Journal,
We won! It doesn’t seem real. Of course, I didn’t think it would happen after I saw a spookfish in the temple. There is a legend that if you see one, you are cursed! Luckily, Pearl knew a cure for the curse. At least I thought she did. It turns out she made up everything! Now I guess I’m not cursed, because there is no such thing. At least I hope not!
Echo Reef
Dear Journal,
This has been a crazy adventure. I loved seeing all the buildings that humans built in Atlantis. I am mad at myself for keeping my eyes closed when we visited the temple. I was afraid of the curse, but it turns out there wasn’t a curse at all. I could have seen all the fabulous things inside the temple for myself. But I did get to see a little bit of the entrance. I hope I get a chance to come back to Atlantis. Maybe our Shell Wars team will win again next year!
Rocky Ridge
Dear Journal,
I can’t believe Coach Barnacle is making us write down our thoughts about the Shell Wars Championship. How silly is that? Anyway, I can tell you how I feel in just a few words: Wave-tastic! Fin-tastic! Mer-velous! Shell-tacular! Splashing good! Tail-kicking!!
Kiki Coral
Dear Journal,
I’m so happy I was the Trident Academy Tiger Sharks’ team manager for the Shell Wars tournament. I didn’t know it would be so much work. Managers are important. They have to make sure all the equipment is in good shape. They have to make sure everyone knows when the games are. They go to meetings and schedule practices. But most important, a team manager has to cheer for their team. Go Trident Academy!
Pearl Swamp
Dear Journal,
Atlantis is tails down the most fabulous fashion city in the ocean. I think it’s better than New Ocean City. Instead of writing this, I should be shopping! I saw the cutest top in this little shop that is owned by Tyra Baybanks! Can you believe it? She is only the most famous mermodel ever! I almost fainted at the final Shell Wars game. One of the cutest princes in the whole ocean was watching: Will of the small province of Whales! Will and his wife, Kate, were sitting right beside Angelfish Molie, who I just happen to know. So when I waved, they all waved back! I can’t wait to tell my friend Wanda. She is going to just die!
REFRAIN:
Let the water roar
Deep down we’re swimming along
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 1:
Shelly f lips her tail
Racing, diving, chasing a whale
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
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
WHENEVER I WRITE A story, I always end up doing research. With the Mermaid Tales books, I get to learn about all kinds of sea creatures. But with this story, I also got to learn about sports superstitions. For instance, many people thought the Boston Red Sox baseball team was cursed after they traded away a player named Babe Ruth. For eighty-six years they didn’t win the World Series. It was called the Curse of the Bambino (Babe Ruth’s nickname).
Some Chicago Cubs fans wonder if Billy Sianis cursed their team when he was thrown out of a game along with his pet goat. It’s called the Curse of the Billy Goat, and some fans even brought goats onto the baseball field to try to reverse the curse. Luckily, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016 and the curse is over (if there ever was one)!
People have done all sorts of things to keep away bad luck. Some good-luck charms have been horseshoes, triangles, bamboo, and wearing the same dirty socks or clothes every game. Fans of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team even believe an octopus will bring them good luck! Do you believe in good-luck charms? Or are you like Pearl, who believes you must make your own luck by believing in yourself?
Your mermaid friend,
Debbie
Acknowledgments
Thanks to all the great encouragement from Ara, Ellison, Chloe, Nola, Sophie, Ashlyn, Marisa, and all my wonderful readers.
Glossary
ANGELFISH: This thin, colorful fish lives around reefs and eats many things, including sponges.
BARNACLE: Adult barnacles spend their lives attached to rocks, ships, or even whales.
BARRACUDA: The great barracuda is a very fast fish. Adults usually swim alone, but the young often stay together in groups called shoals.
BLACK MARLIN: Black marlins like warm water and can swim at eighty miles per hour, which is faster than cars travel on most highways.
BLUE BUTTONS: If you see what you think is a piece of blue plastic floating on the ocean’s surface, it just might be a group of this unusual creature. The circular center that keeps it afloat is surrounded by stinging tentacles. Luckily, the sting isn’t too powerful.
CARNATION CORAL: This colorful reef animal can be pink, red, orange, yellow, or white.
COCKLE: The common edible cockle has a ribbed shell and lives on the ocean floor.
CONCH: Large-size sea snails and their shells are called conchs. The beautiful shells come to a point at both ends.
COOKIECUTTER SHARK: This shark has a glowing green belly that attracts other fish. It also has razor-sharp teeth to take a cookiecutter-size bite out of them!
CUTTLEFISH: There are one hundred twenty different kinds of cuttlefish. The largest is the Australian Giant Cuttlefish, but it is still only slightly bigger than a person’s head.
DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS: Divers must be careful not to go too deep in the water too quickly. Diving that fast can give them this sickness.
FLAG FISH: This type of pupfish is found in Florida. It’s sometimes called the American flag fish because of the red and blue stripes on its body.
GREAT SCALLOP: The great scallop is also known as the king scallop. It can move quickly through the water by clapping the two parts of its shell together.
HERRING: Atlantic h
erring live in large groups, or shoals, and come to the surface at night to eat plankton.
HORSESHOE CRAB: The horseshoe crab is a close relative of spiders.
JOHN VERON: This Australian man, also known as Charlie Veron, has been nicknamed the “King of Coral” for his extensive studies of coral reefs all over the world. He is not really a merman.
KELP: Kelp is a large brown seaweed that grows in underwater forests.
LEVEE: A levee is a raised bank of dirt that is used to hold back water.
MANTA RAY: Manta rays can weigh more than a car and be wider than most people are tall.
OCTOPUS: The common octopus is an expert in camouflage. It can almost instantly change its skin color to match its surroundings.
OYSTER THIEF: This seaweed likes to live on oyster shells. As the oyster thief grows, it fills with gas and sometimes lifts itself and the oyster off the seafloor. Then the tide will carry both the oyster thief and the oyster away.
PASSION FLOWER: The passion flower is a feather star with about twenty arms. It looks like a flower and likes to live in reefs and bays.
SEA BAMBOO: Sea bamboo is the largest of the African west coast kelps. It can grow as tall as a five-story building.
SEA LION: The California sea lion is a favorite performer in marine aquariums. Sea lions eat fish and squid.
SEAWEED: There are thousands of different types of seaweed. Velvet horn seaweed is covered with fine short hairs that make it look fuzzy.
SHARPNOSE SEVENGILL SHARK: This rarely seen shark has a pointed snout and lives in deep water.
SPONGE: The Mediterranean bath sponge grows as a round gray cushion and used to be captured for use as a kitchen sponge for humans.
SPOOKFISH: This deep-sea fish is also known as a barreleye because of its unusual barrel-shaped eyes.
SQUID: The common squid is tubelike with large eyes. It can get about as long as your arm.
STALKED JELLYFISH: While most jellyfish float freely in the water, the stalked jellyfish likes to attach itself to a stalk of seaweed or sea grass.
STEAM VENT: Hot water comes from holes or vents in the earth. You may recognize them on land as hot springs or geysers. Sometimes the underwater vents cause growths called black or white smokers.
TAWNY NURSE SHARK: The tawny nurse shark is often photographed because it is usually very peaceful. But it will bite if someone threatens it!
TIGER SHARKS: Young tiger sharks have dark stripes that fade as they get older.
TRIANGULAR BUTTERFLY FISH: This triangular-shaped fish often swims in pairs and eats Christmas-tree worms (worms that live on coral and are shaped like a Christmas tree).
VENUS COMB: This snail looks surprisingly like a human comb.
VIPERFISH: This deepwater fish has huge barbed teeth and a tiny forked tail.
WATER FLEA: For such a teeny, tiny creature, the water flea has a very large eye. The water flea’s body isn’t even as long as a human eyelash!
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
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
BOOK 14: TWIST AND SHOUT
BOOK 15: BOOKS VS. LOOKS
BOOK 16: FLOWER GIRL DREAMS
Coming Soon
BOOK 18: FAIRY CHASE
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
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2017
Text copyright © 2017 by Debbie Dadey
Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Tatevik Avakyan
Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Series designed by Karin Paprocki
Jacket designed by Nina Simoneaux
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2017 by Tatevik Avakyan
Library of Congress Control Number 2016962154
ISBN 978-1-4814-8709-2 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-8708-5 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-8710-8 (eBook)
