Why the theme Mermaids makes a good book
An adventure that suits the child
A mermaid lives halfway between two worlds, and that is what makes her so captivating. She can breathe underwater, yet sometimes she longs for dry land. For a child who loves splashing about, diving for pebbles or lying on a jetty peering into the water, the sea is already full of secrets. In a mermaid story your child gets a tail, or at least the power to breathe beneath the waves, and swims down to places no one has ever been. Down there are shells that sing, fish that talk and an ocean that needs someone to care for it.
Adventures beneath the waves
In a book about mermaids your child can search for a pearl that has rolled down into a deep-sea trench, free an old fishing net that has snagged on the coral, or be invited to a concert where the whales sing bass. Perhaps someone has to swim up to the surface with a message for the people on land, and only your child belongs in both worlds. Or a young mermaid longs to see land just once and needs someone to show her the way to the shore. The book can have mermaids, mermen or both.
Start at your own water's edge
If there is a beach you always go back to, a lake where you spend your holidays or a swimming pool where your child first learned to float, the story can begin there. Tell us about the plastic whale in the bath, the shells on the windowsill or the time you spotted a jellyfish. If your child has just learned to swim, that is lovely to weave in. A little brother can become a baby seal, and a grandma who is always first into the water can be the one who knows where the gate to the sea is. If your child collects pebbles on the beach, one of them might turn out to be magic.
For the youngest, bubbles, lots of blue and a fish that says hello are plenty. Pre-schoolers love to follow the mermaid home to her palace and see how she lives. Six-year-olds and up can handle a story where the sea is in danger and your child has to find a way to help. Older children can be given the question of whether you can belong in two places at once.
The dad who carries the eggs
The real seabed is remarkable enough. With seahorses, it is the father who carries the eggs in a pouch on his tummy until the babies are ready to swim out. Go back through the pictures afterwards and sort them: which creatures could you meet in a real sea, and which only exist in the story? You can also make a mermaid tail from a blanket and swim across the living-room floor. If your child wants to keep exploring below the surface without the magic, read on about life under the sea.
Your child is the hero
You fill in the child's name, age and what they like, and upload a photo. The story about mermaids is written for your very own child, and the thirteen pictures and the cover are drawn from the photo in the style you choose. Brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents or the pet can come along, up to five characters. If you would like to include something that has happened lately, a trip or a lost tooth, just write it and it is woven in.
From eBook to hardcover book
The eBook is ready a few minutes after payment. Read it, change the text and ask for new pictures until you are happy. Then order it as an A4 hardcover book, printed and sent to your door, or straight to the child as a gift. Do add the audiobook or the coloring pages. Start creating the book or read more about the prices. Would you like to see a finished book before you decide? Browse our example books.
How the story could begin
The water is cold for the first few steps, and then not at all. You have waded out from the beach until it reaches your chin, and when you close your eyes and duck your head under, something strange happens. You can breathe. It tickles in your throat and tastes of salt, but the air keeps coming. You open your eyes. The sand below you is striped with sunlight, and a crab is peering up at you on its little stalk eyes. Further out, where the water turns dark blue, something glitters. It is a tail, green and silver, that flicks once and vanishes. Then a face appears, with hair floating out in every direction. “There you are,” she says with a smile. “The shell said you would come when the sun was low. We've got lots to do before it gets dark.”










