Mariana and the Merchild

Mariana, a lonely old woman, lives in a hut by the sea-shore. The village children are afraid of her, though she wants to be their friend. One day a huge storm casts up a tiny Merbaby in a crab shell. Mariana loves and cares for the sea-child. She fears that its mother, a Sea Spirit, will think she has stolen it. But when the Sea Spirit comes, she thanks Mariana for saving her baby's life and asks her to look after the tiny girl until she learns to swim. Mariana's life changes: the village children love the mer-girl and discover that the old woman is their friend. Mariana knows that her beloved Merchild must return to live in the sea. When the day comes, however, she is no longer sad and lonely. The children comfort her, and the Merchild never forgets her. This poetic and lyrical re-telling of a Chilean folk-tale, first published in 2000, is now reissued in a gift format which does full justice to Jackie Morris's evocative illustrations.

Caroline Pitcher is the author of many books for younger and older children. She won the Kathleen Fidler Award for her first book, Diamond, and has been nominated for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals and the English Association 4-11 Award. She lives in Derbyshire.

Jackie Morris is a bestselling writer and artist. She lives in Wales, in “a small cottage held together by spiders’ webs." As a writer and illustrator she has many books to her name; of which The Lost Words, in collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, is the best known. For Otter-Barry Books she has written, among others, the three much-loved Mrs Noah books, The Jackie Morris Book of Classic Nursery RhymesandSomething About a Bear.