FAQ

How can I contact you?

Can I read an excerpt of the book?

Sure. Scroll to the bottom of this page for the excerpt.

What character do you relate to the most?

I feel most like Amy. Except she actually says the things I'd only think to death about (but never have the guts to say). I was serious and sort of single-minded like her... and I can fake sneeze well. Most of my best friends growing up were more carefree, like Steph. Happy, unselfconscious people are fascinating.

I have two sisters (I'm the middle), and we had our fights growing up, so a lot of the tense moments with Mel and Trina came from those experiences. But we had our really close moments too, and we're tight now.

Have you always liked mermaids?

Yes, I have. But who doesn't? The whole myth behind them is so romantic. And the visuals are beautiful, with the sleek fins, the long hair billowing under water – there was so much description to play with, those scenes almost felt like they wrote themselves.

I also swam a lot growing up, so writing about what it feels like to be in the water – like, physically how it feels to have cold water against your skin, and how your eyes view everything blurry – that felt very natural, and was lot of fun.

How long did it take to write MERMAID PARK?

Hmm. About nine months. I did three drafts, each time trying to improve the story a little, make the characters more real, that kind of thing. I worked with a really amazing editor at Razorbill, Liesa Abrams, and she'd send me notes with suggestions – like, this reaction doesn't seem natural, or, this scene moves a little too quickly. That really helped to develop the book well. When you're writing this much, it's hard to back away from it and tell what works and what doesn't.

How did you come up with the idea for this story?

My family went to the Jersey shore a lot growing up. If you haven't been there, let me tell you – summers can be brutal there. I mean, picture piling into a car with no A/C, driving three hours down from Philadelphia – then spending late nights crammed into a tiny hotel room, like, peeling off each other's sunburn and blaming each other for tracking sand into bed.

But then there's the good stuff. The beach, the sun, the adorable guys. It's the first time I remember sort of having a little taste of freedom, and that moment felt big to me. So I wrote a short story about it (originally called "Getaway") and the short story became the book.

What's MERMAID PARK about?

Here's the official blurby thing: Sixteen-year-old Amy dreads her family vacation. With her new stepfather in the picture, life feels like one big disappointment . . . until Amy discovers Mermaid Park, an old tourist spot where girls dressed in fabulous costumes perform underwater shows. When Amy sees "mermaids" gliding through the water, she is utterly captivated, convinced that if she could become one of them, the rest of her life could be just as beautiful.

Excerpt from MERMAID PARK...

Mermaid Park by Beth Mayall

I was underwater when suddenly the guy I’d seen at the pool earlier appeared.

Standing in the corner, tan and relaxed, he put on swimmer’s goggles and slid under the water’s surface. As my sister Mel and I stood at the pool’s edge, I felt a shiver run through me. I wanted him to notice the graceful muscles of my back, my calves. Thrill sped up my pulse. Maybe he was thinking I was amazing, wishing someone like me would notice someone like him.

There was a small splash as Mel tossed the penny into the pool, then a bigger splash of Mel diving in.

Too fast, showing off, I raised my arms and blindly thrust toward the water, knowing right away it was all wrong. I opened my eyes just as my chin scraped the concrete bottom—but my hand, it grabbed the dark spot I saw from the corner of my eye. I had gotten the penny.

I broke the surface, touching the small patch of rough skin and feeling the sting that surely meant at least a little blood.

“Are you okay?” he asked, breaking the surface right in front of me. He took my hand away from my chin to see, and, shocked by the sting and by his touch, I let the penny slip between my fingers. So close, his brow furrowed, blue eyes studying my injury. “Just a scrape,” he said. “Keep swimming – the chlorine is good for it.”

I lowered myself to nose deep into the water, studying the way the late-afternoon sunlight made highlights on the droplets on his upper back. Suddenly I felt a swish in the water next to me. Mel surfaced right then with the penny.

“Mine again,” she said, her eyes quickly flashing to the guy. I met his eyes and he looked at me, like he half expected me to correct her – No, I found it first – but I just let her have the moment.

“So, I don't know what I'm going to do," Melissa said to her friend Trina, like they’d been mid-conversation. "I have to get those letters to some office – city something, city council? And they want them by, like, next week."

Trina shrugged at Mel. "I don't understand" – flipping over lazily – "why you bother."

Mel shook her head. Then she looked at the guy and said, “I'm doing this petition thing to build a summer camp for underprivileged kids.”

"Oh," he said. He looked at me to see if I was impressed. I blew bubbles out of my nose into the water.

"Who’s the petition for?" he asked.

Mel paused a beat to dip her hair back in the water, making it sleek against her head. Looking back at him, she said, "Habitat for Humanity."

His brow furrowed. "They build houses for the poor."

"And now they'll build a summer camp too."

"But shouldn't you be collecting donations or something instead of signatures?" he asked. “Aren't petitions for stuff like gun control, stuff people have clashing opinions about? Who's against a camp for poor kids?" My laugh caught me by surprise, coming out as a burst of air bubbles underwater. Mel headed for the side of the pool, in no hurry.

His brow furrowed adorably. "Wait," he said, looking at her. "You're making this up. There is no petition, is there?"

"There is," Mel said, hiking herself up on the edge of the pool.

"Show it to me."

Mel lowered her brows. "What do you have against poor people anyway?" she said, an edge to her voice now. Then to me and Trina, “C’mon, it’s time to go.” Trina slowly sat up, started gathering towels.

I didn’t budge and it took Mel several seconds to realize this.

“Fine. Miss dinner if you want.”

I ducked underwater and swam to the far end of the pool in one single breath, hoping he would follow. And he did. When he surfaced, he was so close I could smell his cinnamon chewing gum. His wet eyelashes were jet black around intense eyes, the color of water.

He put on his goggles and dove downward. Seconds later, he surfaced with the penny. He pointed at me, then at the side of the pool, smiling wickedly. We hoisted ourselves up onto the edge, cool pool water streaming off us in rivulets. He handed me the coin. "Your toss."

How sweet. Then I pointed at his goggles. "Cheating."

He slid them down around his neck. "I forgot. If you're blind, I'm blind."

He dove in shallow like me, and we both shot quickly to the other end. Chalky white pool bottom stretched out in front of me. No sign of the penny. I glanced over and saw the fuzzy outline of him still searching too. Then I saw him pause and I followed his gaze. It was on the second step from the bottom.

He swam toward it fast, and I chased. Then, just before he got to the step, he reversed his arm stroke to bring himself to a halt, and my momentum carried me into him. He paused a beat to give me a chance to get the penny. I took his hand and moved it toward the penny to pick it up. When we surfaced, we were both breathing hard, trying to stop smiling.

Little whiskers on his cheeks and chin made me want to touch his face. He caught me looking. "Let's just swim," he said.

We started in lazy circles, far from each other, but soon found ourselves in the deep end. I pushed off the wall, showing off, doing a flip underwater that left my hair floating above me. He pushed off and came near, touching my hair. I thought of his chin stubble and pictured my lips pressing against it.

I headed back up, and he surfaced right after me. "Are you here tomorrow?"

I felt little happy things doing a dance in my stomach, and I tried to sound casual. "Yes. Are you?"

He smiled. "I'm always here."

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beth@bethmayall.com

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