A really fun aspect about writing is that anything can be a character. From mythological creatures to inanimate objects, we can give personalities, backstories, and life to anything that we can dream up. We can even bring to life giant elements of nature in order to tell humanizing morality tales.
Author Jennifer Elizabeth, aka Sea Angel Jenn, has done just that with her sophisticated yet fantastical book, A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls. Below is my review of A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls along with an interview with Sea Angel Jenn about her story.
A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls plot summary
While digging for pearls on the beach one day, a little girl comes across a mermaid who tells her a story about the significance of the pearls that she is looking for in the ocean. What follows is an unrequited love story between the Sea and the Moon. As their friendship grows, the Sea finds his admiration for the Moon transform into a deep love.
However, the Sea struggles to express that love. When he finally does, he does not get the results that he was hoping for. But in return, the Moon offers pieces of herself to the Sea as a token of her friendship.
The format
A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls is a 26-page picture book. It’s a wide book with glossy pages that help to highlight its illustrations.
The book contains a standard, black, typed font with several lines of text per page. There is occasional dialogue as the sea and the moon converse, though it is mostly told through the eyes of our friendly mermaid narrator. The vocabulary is still on par with an elementary school reading level, though the number of words on a page make it better suited for those with a few years of reading under their belts.
The story itself is very feminine, and it is a sophisticated story well suited for older picture book readers. But it also easily holds the attention of its adult readers who can relate to its message and characters.
The characters
This story brings to life the Sun, the Moon, and the Sea as these larger-than-life beings with humanized personalities and emotions. The Mermaid serves as the narrator who uses the story as a mythological mortality tale to relay to the unsuspecting little girl who is merely looking for buried treasure to share with an unseen friend.
The Sea is the most vulnerable character in the book, despite his size and power. But he is always looking up at the Moon who grows larger and brighter, further captivating the sea with each change in her appearance.
What he doesn’t realize is that these changes are the result of her light provided by the sun and how the sun is crucial to them both. From his viewpoint down below, the Sea cannot get the full picture of the relationship that he thinks he has with the Moon as there is more going on than both his physical position and his emotionally jaded viewpoint allow him to see.
The illustrations
A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls is illustrated by Anna Marie who fills each page with colorful watercolor spreads featuring various sea and sky elements. The illustrations have a watery movement to them that makes the reader feel that they are on the sea looking up at the sun and the moon.
The faces on the characters are simple and subtle. Their expressions give the reader just enough context to accentuate the more emotional cues that the text provides. The overall style and color scheme creates a magical version of this realistic setting.
My recommendation
I recommend A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls for readers who love mermaids, fantastical love stories, and bittersweet endings with a lesson. Many young readers likely won’t know the feeling of having their hearts broken. But they will likely know the intricacies of friendship and what it’s like to get your feelings hurt.
This story serves as a comfort to those who are going through the same heartache as the Sea. It also serves as a cautionary tale to remind readers to look beyond their own feelings to the situation that is going on around them so that their rose-colored view of the world doesn’t come crashing down when they realize they have been blinded to the full story.
It takes two people to form a relationship, and both need to be on the same page in terms of the status of that relationship. We can’t help the way we feel, but we still need to be aware of how others feel so that we know how much of ourselves to give to a relationship. That way, we don’t hope for more than we can expect, and we can determine how to proceed with the full picture in view so that we know who to give our pearls to.
My rating
An interview with Jennifer Elizabeth
You wrote in your introduction that the story was written in response to a heartbreak. What lesson do you want your readers to take away from your story? What advice can you give to those who have had their heart broken or have broken somebody else’s heart?
The lesson I would love for my readers (of any age) is to understand that heartbreak is part of life. We hope whoever is holding our heart is doing it with kindness. And in turn, we need to be aware of that very kindness when we are holding someone’s heart that may love us more or in a way that we cannot reciprocate. And that sometimes, even if things don’t work out how we wish, there is a “pearl” of wisdom we learn, a lesson.
The advice I can give is pretty much the same as the lesson. To not hold it against someone who doesn’t like or love us back. We never want someone we love to be forced in our lives out of guilt, nor should WE feel that way when it is us on the end of being the heartbreaker.
In my book I love that courage of the Sea AND the Moon. The Sea for being open and honest with his feelings (another lesson I would love my readers to take away) and for the Moon being soft and kind, but honest and up front about her feelings.
How did you come up with the idea of using a fictional character of a mermaid as your narrator?
Funny enough, when I first wrote this book in high school, it was an angel who came to a little at night after she told her crush and best friend she liked him. It was sparked from one line in a Jimi Hendrix song saying, “An Angel came down to tell me the love of the moon and the sea.”
Shortly after high school, when I started getting into the mermaid business, it made more sense, not only to brand myself as a professional mermaid, but with the moon, sea, and pearls….it just made more sense in relation to being a mermaid than an angel. I am also looking into making this a series.
Who are your favorite mermaids?
Ooh, great question! My favorite mermaids growing up were Daryl Hannah’s Madison from the movie Splash, the mermaids in the lagoon in Walt Disney’s Peter Pan, the mermaids from the movie Hook, and later in life when I saw that I could work as a mermaid, the true original real life professional mermaid, Hannah Mermaid.
I also really loved the original The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. She doesn’t get the prince in the end, however, (and I feel a lot of people overlook this beautiful part of the story) the little mermaid gets closer to having a soul. In the original, yes, a prince sparked her interest in the human world, but it was knowing they had a soul when they died that I believe drove her to make a vicious bargain with the Sea Hag.
You see, mermaids don’t have souls when they die; they live up to 300 years, and then become the foam you see in the waves. That is how Hans Christian Andersen wrote it, and that forever resonates with me.
When did the idea of using elements in nature as your main characters?
Again, this would go back to the brief lyric in Jimi Hendrix song…it had me curious on who was in love with whom or what love is the angel meaning. I sort of fell into building on that and answering my own curiosity.
So, one day while I was playing around with my pearl necklace as a teen, I thought about how they looked like little moons, and yet came from the sea….so that began how to correlate the two. Also, with a very small percentage of Native American in my blood, I grew up loving their folktales and how they always incorporated the elements or animals around them to give a powerful message.
Who is your target audience for this book?
And that is why this book was a struggle to get published. Is it too heavy for children? Too simple for young adults? I like to answer yes to both and that is a good thing.
I feel for children it is a beautiful story of bittersweetness that gives you a different “happy” ending. Giving them coping skills in a whimsical way. I feel it can be a story that lingers in the back of their mind and comes back to them in a time of heartbreak, and to remember kindness. And for adults, it lightens up the heavy burdens we continue to carry, giving a message of underlying hope.
Who is your favorite character in the book?
Ooh that is such a great question! One of my readers wrote to me saying they loved this story so much, and since I wrote in high school, they thought I was the Sea in the story. Then another friend wrote to me after I posted the backstory (and original illustrations of this book) on my author website, that changing the angel to a mermaid showed the personal and emotional growth I have gone through with this book.
In the original, it was a girl being comforted by an angel (the girl being me and relating to the Sea’s feelings). Now with a Mermaid telling the story, it is me stepping out of this scenario and sharing and giving the comfort.
Honestly, though, it is the Moon that is my favorite. She loves her friend so much, and to ease both their respective pain, she chooses to give the Sea something beautiful while still being open and honest about her feelings.
What advice do you have for writing a picture book?
Wow, well…since I didn’t write in the more traditional or commercialized world of picture books… I would say, write from your heart. If you want to write something fun and silly, spark it from an actual memory or event.
I sometimes want to write a simple children’s book just after watching how my cats can be…each a little chaotic and have their own quirks. Find inspiration anywhere! It’s all around. And jot those ideas down. Come back to it in a few days and if there is still spark, build on it.
How closely did you work with the illustrator on the illustrations?
Since this was my first time, I didn’t know the whole process. I wish we worked more closely on it. However, she did a wonderful job taking my original drawings and turning them into watercolor. I think that actually made this process a little easier and a reason we didn’t need to work so closely. I also gave her pictures of my actual professional mermaid tails so that the Mermaid would be as close to my brand as possible.
Any advice for becoming a professional mermaid?
Yes! Have fun with it! Start out small, be super comfortable in the water. If the silicone tails are out of your price range right now, there are some really great realistic looking fabric ones that most Mermaid Silicone companies are producing.
Get creative with your Mer-sona, and don’t get tangled in the drama. Having a strong swimming background and/or lifeguard certificate is a major plus! Not that when you are hired as a mermaid you will be lifeguarding, (they usually hire one separate so you can focus on being a magical mermaid) but it helps to see the signs if someone is close to drowning or sun stroke. You can then alert the lifeguard hired on duty and both save the day…and someone’s life.
It’s also good to get performer’s insurance to protect yourself. Have someone go over contracts you have with future events, especially if you start out or continue freelancing. It’s good to work for a little bit for a performer company so you learn that part of the business and have a better understanding.
What’s next for you in your writing career?
I am excited that finally getting this book out, brought back my writing juices. Like I believe I shared before, I am looking to make this a little book series. I also started up on my website, my mermaid blog.
Years ago on Instagram every Monday morning, I posted little tidbits on Mermaid History and Literature. I once pitched it as a traveling show…and it’s still working on that. TV is constantly changing and being in the entertainment world, I am always paying attention to what is going on.
I recently wrote another TV pilot and put together a TV Bible for a different show… can’t share much more on that, but I am excited about finding all avenues to write in. My blog also touches on Mermaid Approved beauty, and other things I will tie in mermaid stuff.
Author links
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Also check out my review of Blood From Stone, starring Jennifer Elizabeth here: https://laurasbooksandblogs.com/film-review-blood-from-stone/
Buy it!
Buy a copy of A Mermaid’s Tale of Pearls here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
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Loving the art style in conjunction with this pretty story!
Hi Jaya – thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you entered the giveaway…and also you can read the story on Kindle!
Yes, I love how the movement of the illustrations mirrors the ocean setting.
Great interview! I am looking forward to a Mermaid Series. Was so jazzed to learn this in your interview!
Thanks for reading, and I’m glad that the interview got you hyped for more mermaid tales!