Ellie and the Secret Potion: Mermaid S.O.S #2

Mermaid S.O.S. #2

by Gillian Shields, Helen Turner (Illustrator)

This fun and light new series is about Misty and her fellow Sisters of the Sea, mermaids who live in the underwater Coral Kingdom. The mermaids have been sent on an important mission by their queen, Neptuna, and the fate of their fellow mermaids depends on their success. Through their adventures, the mermaids learn about friendship, teamwork, and protecting the ocean and its inhabitants.

Just when Ellie and the other mermaids are safely on their way back to Coral Kingdom, the evil mermaid Mantora is brewing trouble again, this time causing an oil spill in the ocean. It's up to Ellie to find a very special ingredient for a potion that could save her fellow mermaids and other sea creatures from Mantora's evil handiwork.

Genres: Fantasy

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2006

About the author

Gillian Shields was born and brought up in Yorkshire, in the north of England. As she grew up, she had two passions:books and theater. Gillian’s love of books led her to read English at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. After university she studied acting in London. She then taught in a drama school, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, for several years, becoming Vice Principal. She recently taught English and Drama at Beechwood Sacred Heart, a girls’ boarding school.

Having children gave Gillian an excuse to carry on reading children’s books, as well as a motivation to write them. She has a son and a daughter, and is married to Brian, who works for the New York Times Media Group.


Hobbies, Interests, and Enthusiasms
I am currently learning Italian (or trying to!) and have a secret fantasy about going to live on the beautiful island of Sicily one day, and having a little stone house with a lemon tree in the garden, and a view of the blue, blue sea! I am lucky, though, because I do live in a fantastic part of England, full of soft green fields and rolling hills and cottages that date back four hundred years.

I like to go for long walks and see the changes that the seasons bring, and I try to imagine how it all must have been years and years ago, and how the people lived. I was brought up in the north of England which is much more rugged and wild—the backdrop to Immortal.

I also enjoy being in the city—although I wouldn't want to live there all the time, it's fun to go window shopping or to big new exhibitions or shows, or just hang out in a coffee shop with a cappuccino and a notebook and watch the busy world go by.

Something I enjoy is painting. I have taken quite a few art classes and find it very creative to work with paint and charcoal and images instead of words, though somehow I can't help adding bits of poetry and scraps of words into my paintings, too… When I was at school, I was completely obsessed by the Pre-Raphaelites, and I love the way their art is so intertwined with poetry and stories. My best friend is an artist and she is incredibly inspiring to me.

I hate cooking but love the idea of being a good cook and welcoming all my friends and family to delicious meals. So I have lots of beautiful cookery books but I never get past the first couple of recipes. Every so often I get madly enthusiastic all over again, but it doesn't last.

When I am writing, I can't listen to music—I find it too distracting, but I love to listen to the radio when I am driving. I listen to pop music in the morning and classical music in the afternoon. That just seems right somehow. My son is really into music, so I enjoy sharing his enthusiasms. At the moment we are listening to Eminem, Akon, NDubz, Chipmunk, Kanye West, plus Greenday, Michael Jackson…the list goes on. My current absolute favorite is Paolo Nutini.

Another interest I have is this amazing charity called The Smile Train which carries out operations for disadvantaged children born with harelip/cleft palate. Sometimes I feel I don't realize how lucky I am, and so it's good to try and do something to help a child on the other side of the world who isn't so lucky. My family also tries to support Sightsavers International, who do simple cataract operations to restore the sight of hundreds of people in the developing world.

On a more self-indulgent note, I love to get to the theater whenever I can, and to the ballet, which I adore. In another fantasy life I would definitely be a ballerina!

I can't imagine getting through a day without reading or writing. I know it sounds a complete cliche, but there it is. I go to a writers' workshop once a week to meet other writers and exchange ideas and read work in progress, and that is hugely important to me. And every spare minute of the time at home I am reading, reading, reading…What would we do without stories?
Education
St Catharine's College, Cambridge University (MA in Englis

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is #2 in the series.

Ellie and her sister mermaids are Crystal keepers on their way home from picking up some special crystals for the queen of the Coral Kingdom and have adventures along the way home. After being blown off course by a magical storm in the previous book they are behind schedule. But they stop and take the time to make a cleaning potion to save Scarlett and the sea life from a horrible oil spill.

This series teaches children about the ocean and the creatures in it. This book teaches the value of please and thank you.

Fave scene: getting to see the sky.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story felt slow and dragged on without much actually happening. The characters are flat and lack any depth . I know this is a book for young readers, but even for a juvenile fiction book it was quite bland.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birds were stuck in oil spilled by humans. Oil is harmful to the sea creatures. Ellie and her friends have to make a secret potion to fix the birds. Ellie is the main character in the book. ***katarina

[Aslakdawalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because they're kind of rescuers even though they're really not. They were rescuing things even though they weren't animal rescuers. I like Misty because she's really brave.

[Vibhuti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellie, Lucy, Sophie,Holly, Scarlett, Misty, were trying to get 6 magic cryistals to reaturn to queen Neptuna before the end of the week, --Vini

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about Ellie and her sisters trying to help the terns from the oil that evil Mantora spilled .I liked this book.

[Limau Nipis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that the mermaids work hand in hand to prepare the potion to save the birds from the oil spill.

The message of caring for the environment is very strong here.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE This series