A Daisy at the Beach

by Holly Anna

  I see a crab scuttle into a hole in the wood while spiky sea urchins cling to the sides of the ship.

  “Wow, this boat has become a home for sea creatures!” I say.

  “And look!” yelps Posey. “There are brains growing on the deck!”

  “Those are not real brains,” I say. Obviously. “It’s brain coral. And I also see purple sea anemones.”

  Posey crosses his eyes. “Purple what?”

  I giggle because it is such a hard name.

  “Ah-nem-oh-nee!” I repeat slowly. “It looks like a pretty flower, but don’t touch it! It stings like a jellyfish.”

  Posey swims away from the wiggly anemones to check out a rusty old anchor lying on the sand.

  “Does this animal sting?” he asks.

  “No, that’s an anchor, not an animal,” I explain. “It holds the ship down in place.”

  Posey nods and tells the anchor, “Well, you are doing a very good job.”

  Quietly, a strange new creature slips out from the ship. It’s an eight-armed cutie-pie octopus!

  “Hi, there!” I say, but the octopus swishes away in a cloud of ink. Oh no! I must have frightened it.

  But Posey says something that I can barely hear, and the octopus stops. It points its tentacles at itself. Posey speaks again, and the octopus inches back.

  Well, I’ll be a deep-sea diver. Posey knows how to speak octopus, too. Obviously.

  “Daisy, this is Inky,” Posey says, introducing the octopus. “She is lost and can’t find her friends.”

  Inky waves to me with all her arms, and I wave back with one hand. “I’m sorry to hear you are lost. Can we help?”

  The octopus lets out a murmur that is too low for my mermaid ears. Then Posey snaps his fingers and sprinkles imaginary friend dust over us.

  This time I hear Inky’s voice loud and clear. “Yes, please!”

  Chapter Eight

  Sea Ghost

  I, Daisy Dreamer, am now a mermaid in detective mode.

  “Inky, have you tried retracing your steps?” I ask.

  “No,” Inky says nervously.

  “That’s okay,” I say. “What have you seen since you lost your friends?”

  Inky looks at us with her big round octopus eyes as she thinks.

  “Well, I remember a garden of orange and purple sea stars. Before that, I heard the sounds of a murky song. I also saw a treasure chest sticking up from the sand.” Inky looks down at the ocean floor sadly. “And that was the last time I saw my friends.”

  I flick my fish tail.

  “Those are great clues!” I say. “Let’s see if we can find them and get you back home.”

  To start our search, Posey asks a school of sardines if they’ve seen any of the clues. But they flicker by without stopping.

  “Those fish are too busy to answer me,” Posey says.

  “That’s because they’re in school all day,” I say. “Get it?”

  Posey shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

  Suddenly Sir Pounce darts away again, probably chasing more fish. Doesn’t he know we are on a mission?

  But Posey takes my hand and one of Inky’s tentacles. “He wants to show us something!”

  We swim after Sir Pounce, who leads us right to a garden of orange and purple sea stars.

  “You found the first clue!” Inky exclaims.

  “Good kitty!” I say. Or should I say “good fishy”? Then I secretly apologize for thinking my cat wasn’t helping.

  Inky holds a tentacle up. “The murky song was near the sea stars. Can you hear anything?”

  We stop and listen quietly. Then a strange melody washes in.

  “Woo-OOO-ooo!”

  Something in the distance wails and echoes all around us. I look at my friends, and our eyes all grow wide. We stay quiet.

  “Woo-OOO-ooo!”

  Now everyone hides behind me.

  “It sounds like an underwater ghost,” Posey whispers. “And it will probably sting us!”

  The song takes me back to a video I saw once about the largest animals in the sea. My eyes almost pop out of my head with excitement because now I know just what this sound is!

  “That’s no ghost,” I say. “It’s a whale!”

  Chapter Nine

  Hidden Treasure

  Posey looks embarrassed. “I guess I need to brush up on my whale sounds.”

  We swim toward the singing until a giant humpback whale emerges from the ocean shadows.

  “Well, here’s your chance!” I say.

  Inky wraps each of her eight arms around me.

  “I’m scared,” she whispers.

  I hug her back and say, “I can tell. Don’t worry, Inky. If anyone can handle this, it’s Posey.”

  And I’m right! Posey sings, grunts, and whistles with the whale. Is there nothing my imaginary friend can’t do?

  After they talk for what feels like forever, the whale finally swims slowly on, and Posey floats back to our side.

  “Well, that was Humpfrey,” he tells us. “What a really nice whale he was! He had a lot to say. We talked about how much fun splashing is. And he gets to spit out water from his head. How cool is that? Oh, and then he said something about a treasure chest.”

  “A treasure chest!” both Inky and I echo.

  Posey smiles. “Yeah, it’s buried right underneath us.”

  I look down, but all I can see is sand, seaweed, and muck. We swim to the bottom and wipe our hands over the soft ground until we find something hard. It’s the corner of a chest!

  Posey, Inky, and Sir Pounce help me scoop up the sand. The deeper we dig, the stinkier and gloppier the muck gets. Posey and I free the treasure chest from the mud and drag it to where the water is clear.

  “Is this the same treasure chest you saw, Inky?” I ask.

  Inky shrugs. “Maybe. Should we open it?”

  Um, the answer to this question is always yes. Obviously.

  We pull it open. Inside the chest are stunning, sea-polished shells! Orange lion’s paws. Pearly abalone shells. Yellow limpets. Shimmering sand dollars. Purple sea scallops. They are beautiful.

  As we dig through the treasure, Inky’s octopus friends swim up! Inky links tentacles with her friends, and they dance around in a circle.

  “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!” one of her friends says.

  Inky laughs. “And I was looking for you!”

  Posey and I watch Inky and her friends. She is so happy to be home. It makes me miss my home too. That’s when I hear my name drifting down to the bottom of the ocean.

  “Daisy,” my mom’s voice rings out. “Wake up.”

  A burst of bubbles floods around me, and then I feel a great whoosh!

  Chapter Ten

  Am I Dreaming?

  I open my eyes and grab the armrests of my beach chair. Whoa! I’m back at the beach! My legs are wrapped in my mermaid beach towel, and I’m sitting under my beach umbrella. I look all around. Posey is gone. Sir Pounce is gone too.

  In front of me is a sandcastle that looks just like my very own house!

  There’s a note written in the sand next to it that says What a FUN day! See you soon!

  Then I watch a wave gently roll over the sand house and note. It washes them both away, and I sigh happily.

  Suddenly my mom peers over the umbrella. “Daisy, oh good, you’re awake.”

  I shake my head because I wasn’t asleep. Or was I?

  Mom smiles at me. “You fell sound asleep in the warm sun. I put your towel over your legs and moved your beach umbrella.”

  Hmm, was this all just a dream? I wonder. Then I yank off my towel to see if I’m still a mermaid.

  Nope. I’m just regular old me.

  “Upsy-Daisy!” Mom says. “It’s time to go home.”

  “One more splash!” I say, and I flop into the shallow water. Then I wrap myself back in the towel and race my parents to the parking lot.

  I even let them win.

  The first thing I do
when we get home is check on Sir Pounce. And you know what? That cat is curled up and snoring on my bed!

  “Sir Pounce!” I cry, bouncing next to him. “You’re not a fish anymore!”

  I run my hand over his ears and down his back. Then he stretches, hops onto the floor, and hides under my dust ruffle.

  Getting down on my hands and knees, I peek under my bed. “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!”

  Sir Pounce darts out from under my bed and drops something on the floor in front of me. It’s a seashell from Inky’s treasure chest!

  I turn the shell over in my hand. It’s real!

  Sir Pounce curls into my lap and paws at the shell. I give him a kiss on the head and say, “Let’s keep this our little sea-cret.”

  “Mrr-row!” he meows, and this time I think I understand him.

  Keep reading for a preview of

  The Bad Luck Day

  by

  Holly Anna

  Boing! Boing! Boing!

  I, Daisy Dreamer, am hopping around like a bouncy kangaroo. That is how I pull my leggings on for school. Obviously. I also like to stretch my waistband out like a kangaroo pouch. Then I let it go. Thwack! As I hippity-hop, I spy a purple blob behind my nightstand. I reach down and grab it!

  It’s my super-sticky octopus wall walker! It’s been missing for ages. I got it at a birthday party a long time ago. I squish it in my fist and it smooshes out the sides. Then I hurl it against the wall and watch it crawl to the floor. It looks totally alive!

  I run over and grab it and throw it again. And again! Then something crazy, but not totally crazy for me, happens. A door in my wall opens up, and my imaginary friend, Posey, pops out.

  “Hi, Daisy!” he cheers.

  Posey surprises me right in the middle of winding up to throw, and the wall walker slips out of my hand.

  Ka-blammo! The squishy, sticky octopus flies into my desk calendar and knocks it onto the floor. “Oh no, Daisy!” I shout. I always say “Oh no, Daisy” when I knock things over.

  Posey laughs and runs over to grab my wall walker. I run after him and pick my calendar up off the floor.

  Then I notice the date. “Uh-oh! Today is FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH!”

  Continue Reading…

  The Bad Luck Day

  Holly Anna

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Holly Anna has always had a wild imagination. When she was little, she used to doodle drawings that would transport herself and her friends to a wonderful world of make-believe. Now she visits other worlds through writing. Holly lives in San Jose, California, with her family. They have four cats: Rocket J. Squirrel, Le Mew, The Honest John Wookenchops (a.k.a. “Wookie”), and Noel.

  Genevieve Santos is an illustrator born, raised, and living in San Jose, California, and sole proprietor of a small stationery company, Le Petit Elefant. Her love for animation started at a young age, and is what drives her to draw the slightest observations. She also has an insatiable weakness for ice cream.

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Holly-Anna

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Genevieve-Santos

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  IntheMiddleBooks.com

  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.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Little Simon hardcover edition July 2019

  Copyright © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Also available in a Little Simon paperback edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by Laura Roode

  Jacket design by Laura Roode

  Jacket illustrations by Genevieve Santos © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Anna, Holly, author. | Santos, Genevieve, illustrator.

  Title: A Daisy at the beach / by Holly Anna ; illustrated by Genevieve Santos.

  Description: First Little Simon paperback edition. | New York : Little Simon, 2019. | Series: Daisy dreamer ; #10 | Summary: While spending the day at the beach, Daisy’s imaginary friend Posey turns her into a mermaid and they help a lost octopus reunite with her friends.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019011405 | ISBN 9781534442610 (paperback) | ISBN 9781534442627 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534442634 (eBook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Beaches—Fiction. | Imaginary playmates—Fiction. | Mermaids—Fiction. | Octopuses—Fiction. | Lost and found possessions—Fiction. | Imagination—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Imagination & Play. | JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories. | JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.A568 Daf 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019011405