UAE | Heritage and Culture

A young mermaid's adventures in Dubai

A six-year-old mermaid bravely rescues her father from the sea while battling sharks after a swim off Dubai waters goes wrong.

  • By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:46 December 5, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Author Rawlinson says she has based her book on her six-year-old daughter Isadora.
  • Image Credit: Supplied Picture

Dubai: A six-year-old mermaid bravely rescues her father from the sea while battling sharks after a swim off Dubai waters goes wrong.

Isadora, the mermaid, is the main character in Una Rawlinson's book Fishcakes and Jelly, which is based on her six-year-old daughter.

It caters to three to eight-year-olds by opening the door to the marine world of fish, sharks, and dolphins.

The British illustrator decided to write a book after she got inspired by her daughter's paintings and character.

"I saw a whale shark at Dubai Marina two years ago, which made me think about UAE animals as well," Rawlinson said.

"My daughter always likes to dress up as mermaid, so I decided to write a story about UAE fish and a little family's underwater adventure. My husband and daughter are in the story and they go on an adventure," she said.

Isadora is invited to go to an underwater party by a dolphin for his birthday. She plays with seahorses and gets turned into a mermaid.

She starts off her day at Atlantis with her father, and while they are there he falls asleep in the sun and she goes off to play with the dolphins. The author is only portrayed in the first and last pages of the children's book as a busy working mother.

Initially, the book was supposed to portray the journey of another little girl but "I was finding the story quite hard to do for some reason. I was not connecting with it. That's when I started thinking of my daughter as a mermaid. I immediately knew what I wanted to paint. I immediately knew what I wanted to say and what to do," said Rawlinson.

According to Rawlinson, the book has some of her personality and paintings. "I have painted some of her pictures that she has painted of mermaid and dolphins. I included it in the background. It's got her toys and her bedroom in there," she said.

Rawlinson has been doing illustrations ever since coming to Dubai five years ago. "I will be doing a new book with Julia Johnson. And I will do another one where I will write and illustrate as well. I want to do one about dinosaurs in Dubai. I also want to do about the Arabian horse," she said.

Rawlinson will be appearing at The Atlantis on three separate dates to give a short presentation on the process of taking a picture book from sketches to finished product, followed by a reading and book signing. The underwater theatre in the Kids Club will provide the perfect atmosphere for this special event.

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