As a former head science teacher, I’ve had a lot of experience with answering kids questions about science and setting up experiments that I’ve designed to inspire more questions.
I like to write about science. I also like to write about mermaids. I find that books are less interactive than a classroom. The biggest problem I have is reaching students who think science and imagination are separate things.
Science is imagination combined with experiments. So, the question becomes how can I reach imaginative children in such a way that they will want to apply their imaginations to science? At the same time, how can I reach scientific children whom I can inspire to play with their ideas?
Colleen Riordan of Wild Ink Marketing suggested I combine these types of books: science and mermaids.
Mermaid Science! Thanks Colleen. This is a super way to appeal to both audiences: the imaginative and the scientific.
One of the girls in this story is imaginative. The other is scientific. Since mermaids are imaginary friends, only Maia, the imaginative one, can see her. But Maia tells her scientific friend Fig what the mermaid is doing. The three of them make a good team.
Because there’s a mermaid in the stories, I’m concentrating on water science. I plan to add physics in future books as well.
Right now, I’ve got three Mermaid Science books:
The Mermaid and the Rainbow
(In this one, the girls and the mermaid do lots of water tricks, including making a rainbow using a mirror and a glass of water.)
The Mermaid and the Ice Cube Necklace
(Here the girls are having a picnic. Fig has brought ice cubes for their lemonade. The mermaid likes pretty things and wants a necklace made of ice cubes. They learn science as they work with the ice.)
The Mermaid and the Water Magnifying Glass
(This one includes fossils as well as the magnifying properties of a drop of water.)
I’m working on more – including wicking and siphons, and other cool games to play with water.
If you have any questions about water, please post them here. They may find their way into a future book of Mermaid Science.