Flower Girl Dreams Read online

  Miss Haniver smiled. “I would be delighted! It will be my gift to them.”

  “Wonderful!” Pearl said. She looked around the room at all the merpeople who were working so hard to make it a special day for Lillian and Mr. Fangtooth. She couldn’t wait to swim over to the library to tell Lillian everything they had done.

  But Pearl didn’t need to go anywhere.

  “What in the ocean is going on here?” a voice said. Pearl whirled around to find Lillian and Mr. Fangtooth floating in the doorway.

  Help!

  COME ALONG, PEARL,” Mrs. Swamp said the next morning. The two were on their way to a Saturday brunch at the Coral Table restaurant at the Trident Plaza Hotel. “Why are you being so slow?”

  Pearl dragged her tail in the sand. It was the day of Mr. Fangtooth and Lillian’s wedding, and she had been sad since the moment she’d opened her eyes. Even if Pearl couldn’t be a flower girl, she still would have liked to have been there.

  Mr. Fangtooth and Lillian had been thrilled with how everything looked. They thanked everyone—especially Pearl—for all their hard work. Pearl was proud to have made their wedding so special.

  When they finally reached the paved plaza in front of the hotel, Pearl saw Lillian swimming out the door in her beautiful wedding dress. It was almost time for the wedding ceremony to begin! Why was Lillian leaving the hotel?

  “There you are!” Lillian said, her veil floating in the water around her. “I was just about to swim to your shell!”

  “Is something wrong?” Pearl asked

  Lillian looked Pearl up and down. “Yes, in fact something is wrong. Can you do me a big favor?”

  Pearl nodded. “Of course.”

  “Come with me,” Lillian said, grabbing Pearl’s hand and pulling her through the hotel lobby.

  “What’s happening?” Pearl’s mother asked, floating behind them.

  Lillian took Pearl into a lavishly decorated dressing room. Pearl was surprised to see several older mermaids, along with Echo and Shelly, floating there. They were all dressed in the same lovely shade of pink.

  Echo swam up to Pearl. “Thank goodness you’re here! Did you come to save the day?”

  Before Pearl could answer, her mother spoke up. “We were just going to eat brunch when Lillian grabbed Pearl,” Mrs. Swamp said, her hands on her hips. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?”

  “We have a bit of a crisis on our fins,” Lillian said. “Kiki’s allergies got much worse and—”

  “Oh no!” Pearl interrupted. “But we were so careful not to use paddle weed in the bouquets.”

  “She found out she’s allergic to mermaid’s wineglass too,” Lillian said.

  Echo nodded. “She’s all swollen and her arms are itching like crazy.”

  “Dr. Weedly told her to rest so she’ll be better tomorrow. The trouble is,” Lillian continued, “we are short one flower girl.”

  She grabbed Pearl’s shoulders. “Pearl, will you help us? Will you be my flower girl?”

  Pearl’s eyes grew wide. Was Lillian serious?

  The Wedding

  OH, PUPFISH, YOU LOOK beautiful,” Pearl’s mother whispered in her ear. Pearl smiled, but inside she felt scared!

  Why was she afraid? She’d always wanted to be a flower girl. Now she was wearing a pale-pink dress that matched Shelly’s and Echo’s. In her hands she held a bouquet of sea lilies and mermaid’s wineglass.

  Pearl stared into the dressing-room mirror. Her hair was swept up in a lovely swirl with jewel anemones pinned to it. She had never looked more elegant, yet she was nervous. Everyone had worked so hard to make things perfect. What if Pearl ruined the wedding? What if she tripped and fell floating down the aisle? Lillian would never forgive her!

  “Time to take your places,” Lillian told Pearl, Echo, and Shelly. “Pearl, just follow your friends and float down the aisle.”

  Pearl must have looked as terrified as she felt, because Lillian leaned down and whispered, “Oh, little shell, are you all right?”

  Pearl didn’t want to ruin Lillian’s dream wedding, but she couldn’t help blurting, “I don’t want to make a mistake.”

  Lillian gave Pearl a serious look before laughing. “Oh, Pearl, I’m not one of those crazy brides who gets her tail in a knot if everything isn’t perfect.”

  “You’re not?” Pearl asked.

  “No! In fact, if something goes wrong, it will give us something to laugh about later,” Lillian said. “The important thing is that Mendel and I are getting married. The only thing you have to worry about is having a mervelous time.”

  Pearl smiled at Lillian. “I can do that,” she said.

  Pearl slowly swam into the lovely ceremony room. She followed Echo and Shelly as they glided under the upturned swords of an entire Shark Patrol squadron. Mr. Fangtooth floated at the end of the aisle lined with flower urchins and pink lace bryozoan. He stood with Reverend Finley under an archway covered with passion flower feather stars. Mr. Fangtooth looked nervous as Pearl took her place at the front of the room. But when Lillian floated into the room in her beautiful wedding dress, Mr. Fangtooth’s face lit up in the biggest smile ever.

  That’s when Pearl realized that weddings weren’t about flower girls, or fancy flowers, or even about pretty dresses. Weddings were about two people who really cared for each other, who wanted to spend their lives together. And they didn’t need a flower girl to do that!

  But still, Pearl couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear. Finally her flower girl dreams had come true!

  SHELLY SIREN

  “Hi, I’m Shelly Siren. I’m pretending to be reporting live from a fringing reef. What is a fringing reef, you might ask? Well, I can tell you because my friend Lillian showed me a book about reefs at the Trident City Public Library. A fringing reef is a reef right next to a piece of land with no deep water in between.”

  ECHO REEF

  “Hello, I’m Echo Reef. My name is the same as some of the most beautiful ecosystems in the ocean. There are two main kinds of coral: warm and cold. The cold-water coral reefs are in deeper water. The three main types of reefs are fringing, barrier, and atoll.”

  ROCKY RIDGE

  “Rocky Ridge here at the site of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s the ocean’s largest reef. I’m seeing every color of soft coral here. Did you know that a barrier reef is separated from land by a lagoon? That means that the reef isn’t right up beside the land.”

  PEARL SWAMP

  “I am Pearl Swamp, reporting on an atoll. It’s a ring of coral around a body of water. I’ve never actually seen one, but Kiki told me about one called the Aldabra Atoll, which sticks up out of the water and looks like a huge mushroom rock.”

  KIKI CORAL

  “Since my last name is Coral, I am very interested in coral reefs. Did you know that many reefs are in serious danger? Never buy or wear jewelry made from living coral. And did you know one touch of your hand can kill live coral? Some humans use a poison called sodium cyanide to catch reef fish! The fish are all right after a while, but the poison kills coral.”

  REFRAIN:

  Let the water roar

  Deep down we’re swimming along

  Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.

  VERSE 1:

  Shelly flips 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 flips her tail

  Backward and forward without fail

  Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.

  VERSE 4:

  Amazing Kiki

  Far from home and floating so free

  Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.

  Author’s Note

  THIS YEAR I WILL CELEBRATE my thirty-fourth wedding anniver
sary, but I remember my wedding like it happened yesterday. Since blue is my favorite color, I had white roses with blue ribbons in all the bouquets. I had a long white gown with a lacy white veil. Eric, my husband-to-be, wore a gray tux with a white rose boutonniere. He was even more nervous than Mr. Fangtooth! I had one flower girl, my niece Amanda, who wore a blue dress with lots of ruffles. She was prettier than a mermaid!

  Your mermaid friend,

  Debbie Dadey

  Acknowledgments

  To my niece Amanda, who was my flower girl, and to her lovely daughter, Blakely, who will make a beautiful flower girl someday.

  Glossary

  ANGELFISH: The queen angelfish is one of the most colorful of the Caribbean reef fish. Adults are blue and yellow.

  BARRACUDA: The fast-moving barracuda has needle-sharp teeth and a long body.

  BLACK-LIP OYSTER: This oyster lives in many parts of the world, including the Gulf of Mexico.

  BUSHY BLACK CORAL: This coral has branches that look like large bird feathers.

  BUTTERFLYFISH: If a coral reef is healthy, it will have lots of bright yellow butterflyfish. You can identify them by their blue eye patch.

  COCONUT CRAB: Robber crab is another name for this arthropod. It lives on the land, but lays eggs in the water.

  COMB JELLY: The comb jelly causes a lot of trouble in the Black Sea by eating fish eggs.

  CONCH: Conch are mollusks with a lovely spiral shell. In the past, jewelry was made out of the shell.

  CUTTLEFISH: The cuttlefish can darken its entire body when it passes over something dark.

  DAISY CORAL: This coral looks surprisingly like a daisy flower.

  DENDROPHYLLID CORAL: Usually during the day this coral is a red lump, but when darkness falls, it makes a spectacular orange-and-yellow flowerlike display.

  FLOWER URCHIN: This creature has flowerlike appendages, but watch out—it is very poisonous!

  GOLDEN DUNE MOSS: This moss grows on sand dunes and gives the sand a golden color.

  JEWEL ANEMONE: Jewel anemones can be any color and often cover underwater cliffs with their flowerlike disks.

  KELP: Giant kelp is the largest of all seaweed.

  MERMAID’S WINEGLASS: This little green algae grows along the coast, so someone must have dropped it in MerPark in order for Kiki to find it.

  MILKFISH: This silver fish has a forked tail. It is important for food in parts of Asia.

  MUSHROOM CORAL: Most corals live in groups, but the mushroom coral lives as an individual. Its skeleton is shaped like a mushroom.

  NEPTUNE’S NECKLACE: This brown seaweed resembles a string of beads.

  PADDLE WEED: This sea grass is the favorite food of the dugong, a creature that looks similar to a manatee.

  PARROT FISH: In Polynesia, parrot fish is served raw and was once only eaten by the king.

  PASSION FLOWER FEATHER STAR: This feather star has eighteen to twenty arms of different lengths, giving it a flowerlike look.

  PEARLS: An oyster forms a pearl when a tiny piece of sand gets inside its shell. The oyster coats the sand with a shiny substance to make a lovely pearl that is often used in jewelry.

  PINK LACE BRYOZOAN: A colony, or group, of these creatures looks like a bunch of pink potato chips clustered together.

  PLANKTON: Plankton are small creatures that drift on the surface of the water.

  PUFFER FISH: The skin and some parts of a star puffer fish are very poisonous, but in Japan it is considered a delicacy. Only specially trained chefs are permitted to prepare it, since they know the parts that are safe to eat.

  RED CORAL: The deep-red Mediterranean coral has been collected for centuries to be made into jewelry and is now scarce. It is also called precious coral.

  REEF-FORMING SPONGE: This sponge looks very much like a pretty white vase to put flowers in.

  SABLEFISH: Sablefish do not reproduce very quickly. In fact, it takes fourteen years to replace one.

  SCOTCH BONNET: The shell of this sea snail resembles a woolen cap (or Scotch bonnet) that was once worn in Scotland, giving this lovely shell its name.

  SEA HORSE: This tiny ocean creature resembles a horse but is a terrible swimmer.

  SEA LAVENDER: This plant, often called statice, grows near the coast and has showy light-purple flowers.

  SEA LILY: This white relative of the feather star lives in deep water.

  SEAWEED: There are many types of seaweed. Seaweed does not have roots, but floats freely in water.

  SHARK: Sharks are often thought of as the ocean’s bad guys (especially the great white shark), but they are actually needed to keep the fish population healthy and strong.

  STARFISH: More correctly called a sea star, this creature usually has five arms.

  STRIPED CATFISH: This striped fish lives in coral reefs. A sting from an adult is very dangerous to humans.

  SWORDFISH: This creature gets its name from its long, swordlike bill. It is also known as a broadbill.

  VENUS COMB: This snail has long, thin spines that would work well as a mermaid’s comb.

  WHIP CORAL: Whip coral is also known as wire coral because it grows in a single branch that is sometimes coiled.

  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

  Coming Soon

  BOOK 17: READY, SET, GOAL!

  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, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition January 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.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

  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.

  Series designed by Karin Paprocki

  Jacket designed by Karina Granda

  Library of Congress Control Number 2016954655

  ISBN 978-1-4814-4085-1 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-4084-4 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-4086-8 (eBook)r />