Erin Dealey

It’s the mer-magical Book Birthday of

ORPHELINE: A Mermaid Lost and Found Story

Written by Katelyn Aronson and

Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk

(Candlewick)

I am so thrilled to be celebrating this sweet book by two very wonderful #kidlit friends:

Katelyn Aronson grew up in southern California. She now lives and writes in an old farmhouse in France, and works as a bilingual language instructor in Switzerland. Readers may remember her Book Birthday interviews celebrating Clovis Suspects a Sneak and other wonderfully clever books: When PB met J , Piglette’s Perfect Surprise, and POO-DUNIT? a Forest Floor Mystery Nous sommes très heureux de l’accueillir à nouveau!

Dow Phumiruk (Dow rhymes with “wow!” and Phumiruk has a sneaky silent h: Poo’ mee ruck.) was born in Krung Thep (Bangkok), Thailand and now lives in Colorado. She is the award-winning illustrator of MAYA LIN: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines (Amazon Best Book of the Year / NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book); and COUNTING ON KATHERINE: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo13 (Bank Street Cook Prize / NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book /NCTM Mathical Honor Book.) WOW is right! Readers may remember her Book Birthday celebration of AN EQUAL SHOT: How the Law Title IX Changed America.  

About ORPHELINE:

ORPHELINE, a heartfelt “Mermaid lost and found story” and perfect summer read, by the sea –or anywhere–, begins when Cora makes a magical beach discovery nestled in an abalone shell…

A tale to get lost in.
—Kirkus Reviews

Let’s ask some questions!

In the beginning…

Q 1. Katelyn: What inspired you to write ORPHELINE? Which came first –the name, the story, or a phrase like: “Storm at night. Treasure next light.”

K.A. The story came first! Growing up on the southern California coast, I always loved mermaids, and I still have quite a few mermaid books in my collection. It became a dream of mine to write my own. Now here’s where non-fiction served my fiction…

Over the years, I’d come across a few historical accounts of babies floating safely to shore in protective chests (there are a cases of ships caught in storms at sea where parents wrapped their babies up and lowered them into the waves, hoping they’d be carried to safety).

I thought of how magical it would be to find a baby awaiting rescue on a shore, and wondered: what if the baby who washed a shore was a merbaby? And a little girl found it? And maybe the little girl has been so very lonely up to that point that she convinces herself this treasure is hers-for-keeps…until her conscience comes calling.

Mer-Magic

Q 2. Katelyn: What is the significance of the name ‘Orpheline’?

K.A. To give the merbaby a name with an other-worldly quality, I drew upon my second language. /Or-fa-LEEN/ has a lovely sound to it, (slightly reminiscent of the legendary Ondine) and it comes from the French for orphan.

Of course in my story, ‘orphan’ should be interpreted in a broad sense: Orpheline is separated from her mother. We don’t know if she still has a father. And there are hints from the beginning illustrations that Cora and her mother have lost their own father/husband.

So the name Orpheline symbolizes the different ways we can feel ‘orphaned’ in our lives—bereft of someone or something—and how that drives us to belong to someone and/or want someone to belong to us.

Q 3.  Dow: Have you always loved (and drawn) mermaids? How did you learn to illustrate such magical creatures? The spread of the older and younger mermaids really looks like they are floating. Did the process take you somewhere you didn’t expect? 

D.P. I do love illustrating mermaids! I started drawing them more often when I first heard about #MerMay (a social media daily drawing challenge, inviting artists to draw a daily mermaid in the month of May) several years ago. I think I learned to illustrate them with practice, gradually.

Over the years, I’ve improved my techniques with lighting and sparkle to create that magical effect. I must give credit to the team at Candlewick for pushing me to add those fantastical elements that you see in the final art. My original submissions were not as colorful. Editors and art directors are invaluable in ensuring our work reaches its potential, resulting in the best possible end product.

Challenges

Q 4. Katelyn and Dow: What was the biggest challenge during this process? 

K.A. The biggest challenge was keeping a poignant, more serious story accessible for a picture book audience. I’m grateful to my editor Andrea Tompa for her trust in this project and for helping me navigate the complicated emotions I wanted to portray while keeping a light touch.

Orpheline may be fantasy, but it evokes the reality of love, loss, and the pain of making hard decisions that are ultimately for the best. It was important to me that this tale be mysterious and haunting, but also that it deliver light and hope at the end.

D.P. It’s tricky to pose a mermaid in a drawing! I need to imagine the underlying anatomy of a mermaid. For example, I need to consider where a joint would be in a mermaid’s tail, if a mermaid bends at the knee area. I decided to stick with the fish structure in my art (rather than giving them “knees”). I also think drawing bodies of water can be difficult. I studied many reference photos to get the ocean ripples just right.

Surprises, Favorites, and Takaways –oh my!

Q 5.  Katelyn: What surprises did Dow bring to your story?

K.A. Speaking of ‘mysterious and haunting,’ what struck me most about Dow’s art was her ability to capture Orpheline’s emotions. We can read so much in this merbaby’s little face: her doubt, her questioning, her longing for mama. She’s a fish out of water, and Dow’s illustrations communicate that powerfully (Below is a perfect example).

Q 6. Dow: What’s your favorite spread?

D.P. Definitely for me, it’s the spread in which Orpheline’s mother gifts a necklace to Cora. It’s such a touching and bittersweet scene, with the awe of meeting a full-grown mermaid but the anticipation of saying goodbye to the baby mermaid.

Q 7. What do you hope young readers will take away from ORPHELINE?

D.P. I can’t wait for readers to immerse themselves in the fantasy world of Katelyn’s beautiful story. I think we all need a little wonder and magic in our lives, and I’m so honored that I could help bring this book to life.

What’s next?

Q 8.  Are there other books in the queue? Can you share anything about them?

K.A. The next book out for me will be the third in my Clovis the bull books, Clovis Meets His Match, illustrated by Benji Williams and out September 16th from Page Street Kids. Clovis is about to go head-to-head with a rival shopkeeper, and sparks will fly! I’m very excited about this one.

D.P. In October, Ruby Maps Her World releases. I was so honored to illustrate a book by Jane Yolen! I feel like I’ve peaked in my career. I also have a middle grade short story that is part of The Beasts Beneath the Winds: Tales of Southeast Asia’s Mythical Creatures. This comes out in October as well. And next year, my book about the Thai New Year comes out. It’s called Happy Songkran Day.

Thank you!

Oceans of thanks to Katelyn Aronson and Dow Phumiruk for joining us on the blog today.

And Happy Book Birthday to ORPHELINE!

To learn more about Katelyn and Dow and their work, see their websites:

Katelyn: KatelynAronson.com Dow: ArtByDow

And follow them on social media:

Instagram: @AuthorKatelyn  dowphumiruk

Bluesky: katelynaronson  @dowphumiruk.bsky.social

X.com: @MademoiselleK8 

Stay with us this summer! Next up on the blog:

We chat with Joshua Pruett about his NEW mg,

Gyro and the Argonauts! aka the BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN*:

*About a Kid Named After a Sandwich (Volume 1)

Andrews McMeel Publishing

And then….we’ll be celbrating…

The Book Birthday of

MAKING LIGHT BLOOM: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Lamps

Illus. Julie Paschkis / Peachtree

with questions for kidlit author Sandra Nickel !