Dream of the Blue Turtle Read online

  THAT NIGHT AT DINNER, PEARL asked her parents if they’d heard about the treasure in Trident City. “That’s just a silly old legend,” Mrs. Swamp said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

  “Actually,” began Mr. Swamp, setting his glass of comb jelly tea on the marble table, “I’ve seen the ship. It’s beyond Whale Mountain and the Big Volcano.” Whale Mountain was a big underwater mountain shaped like the hump on a whale’s back.

  Pearl slapped the table gleefully. “I knew it!” She couldn’t wait to tell that know-it-all Shelly that the treasure was real.

  “But the ship is haunted,” her dad said in a quiet voice.

  Her mom laughed. “Don’t be silly! There’s no such thing as a haunted ship.”

  Her dad raised his eyebrows, picking up his glass. “Maybe not, but there’s something spooky about that ship. Frank at work told me he swam by there one day and heard ghosts moaning. He said that over the years many merpeople have disappeared into that ship and have never been seen again.”

  Pearl’s mom sighed. “You know Frank likes to make things up.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Pearl’s father said. “Merfolk stay away from it anyway, because the ship’s wood is rotting. It’s so old that the whole place is dangerous.”

  Pearl nodded and took another sip of her cuttlefish chowder. All she could think about was a big treasure chest full of diamonds and rubies.

  Debbie Dadey is the author and coauthor of more than one hundred and fifty children’s books, including the series The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. A former teacher and librarian, Debbie now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her wonderful husband, three children, and three dogs. She recently went to Jamaica and thought she saw a mermaid there! If you see any mermaids, let her know at www.debbiedadey.com.

  Aladdin

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

  Meet the author, watch videos, and get extra at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  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

  Coming Soon

  BOOK 8: TREASURE IN TRIDENT CITY

  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 paperback edition January 2014

  Text copyright © 2014 by Debbie Dadey

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Tatevik Avakyan

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

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

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  Book design by Karin Paprocki

  Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki

  Jacket illustrations by Tatevik Avakyan

  The text of this book was set in Belucian Book.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2013943924

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8264-7 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8263-0 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8265-4 (eBook)