I’m excited to team up with Florida Bay Forever for a reading of my latest book, A Mangrove Mystery, on November 16th at 10am. The reading will be at the Florida Bay Forever Eco-Center, 81224 Overseas Hwy, MM 81.2, Bayside.
Florida Bay Forever is a 501(c)3 that works to increase awareness of the issues that threaten the Florida Bay with Florida Keys residents, visitors, and policymakers. Florida Bay Forever is a Florida Keys grassroots not-for-profit dedicated to protecting and preserving Florida Bay through education and advocacy. I think their mission teams up nicely with my series, The Adventures of Shelly Beach, and I am honored to be asked to be at storytime!
From my latest book in The Adventures of Shelly Beach, A Mangrove Mystery:
…Heinz led them to a certain spot, and then, to everyone’s surprise, another grinning dog head popped out of the water! The two MerDogs greeted each other with salty noses and splashing tails as the boaters looked on in amazement. Heinz had a friend!
From my latest book in The Adventures of Shelly Beach series, A Mangrove Mystery~
…Mangroves always held a spooky fascination for Shelly. She liked to imagine all the spiders and other creatures living within the mangroves and under the root systems that she thought looked just like arms or crooked fingers reaching down under the water. Shelly loved to snorkel around the mangroves and see all the fish that were under them. Sometimes there would be hundreds of fish just floating around under those mysterious branches!
At long last, I have finally published the third book in The Adventures of Shelly Beach series, titled A Mangrove Mystery! I’ve had this book ready for months, but was postponed due to medical appointments, surgeries, and just general procrastination. At first, I was pretty disappointed in myself for not being on the ball, but then I realized this is probably the perfect time to release the book – with Halloween coming! A Mangrove Mystery takes readers on more adventures with Shelly and her brother Sunny, and of course the fascinating Uncle Oscar! Readers will also be introduced to new magical creatures and characters as well as be reunited with their old favorites. Many secrets will be revealed, some mysteries solved, as well as one big problem.
I think readers of the books will also love my new Shelly Beach Portal, where they can sign up for either a monthly or yearly subscription. In the portal they will meet all of their favorite characters from the books and they can take a little trip to the Secret Cove, ride down the Silent Canal, and visit Mira in her Magick Potion Lab. And there’s more, you just have to sign up and you will be able to explore all that the portal has to offer. There are coloring sheets for the youngest kids, downloadable files that teach about sea life, and even recipes for magick potions. This portal will grow and change with time and my imagination, as well as your child’s.
As always, I appreciate all of your support and hope you have as much fun with this as I do!
My favorite thing about the Shelly Beach Portal is the animations. They are all created by my illustrator, Paul Sewell, and they take you into the world of The Adventures of Shelly Beach.
This is a glimpse of the MerDog, Heinz. Heinz is the family pet that passes away and comes back as a MerDog!
Do you have bored kids at home this summer? Try out the Shelly Beach Portal! Kid-tested coloring sheets created by artist Paul Sewell will keep your youngest children busy while informative downloadable documents will teach the older kids all about their favorite ocean creatures. Animations (also created by Paul) will bring them into the magical world of The Adventures of Shelly Beach, while fun printables will entice them to learn more!
Sign up today! Try it out for a month for only $3.99.
I’m not big on being dramatic, but I believe in telling the truth, and I don’t hide much… But as I sit on the eve of a horrible (it sounds horrible) lymph node procedure which is on the eve of my (even more horrible sounding) unilateral mastectomy, I wanted to share something before I go under.
About ten months ago I began work on a section of my website, a portal, where kids can learn about the sea creatures in The Adventures of Shelly Beach series. I wanted a way to bring the characters in the books to my site, in a fun way that kids (and adults) could learn about these creatures that many do not have the opportunity to see firsthand, out in the wild. I also wanted to offer educational downloadable material for parents and students who want to learn, and even coloring pages for the youngest kids.
I added real-life videos of some of the sea creatures as well as photos of them in the wild. To make it even more appealing, my illustrator, Paul Sewell, created some animations for me, straight from my books!
This portal is able to grow and expand to add more creatures and information as well as new characters as the stories progress.
It’s been a fun project and I hope to continue it for years to come. I hope it can help teach people about ocean life and feed imaginations at the same time.
I’m offering two subscriptions: a monthly fee of $3.99 and an annual fee of $39.99. With that fee, subscribers can access the portal any time and explore the magical world of Shelly Beach!
I hope it offers something to kids and adults. Have fun! See you on the other side!!
In the second installment of The Adventures of Shelly Beach series, A Hermit Crab’s Home, Shelly and her brother Sunny continue on their adventures in the Florida Keys. Young readers can continue to learn about the wildlife found in the Keys while they join Shelly in her magical paddle boat. In this installment, readers will discover hermit crabs, as they meet Herbie the Hermit Crab and Uncle Shrimpie, guided by a MerDog! The print copy comes in large font, to assist those computer-strained eyes. With so much being done on the screen these days, I know firsthand how much damage can be done to eyesight.
My hope is that the series will teach young kids the value of wildlife, nature, and the ocean in a fun and magical way.
Available in eBook and print!
Get ready to meet Uncle Shrimpie, and be led by a MerDog on some magical adventures!
As always, thank you to my young readers for supporting my work!
As many of you know, I recently became a referral agent for RanMarine Technology. These are the people who created the WasteShark, the TenderShark, and the soon-to-be-available MegaShark. Now, as many of you also know, I am a horrible salesperson. But, not to worry, I am simply a referral agent, which means if you are interested in buying, leasing, or pursuing sponsorship opportunities for one of these products, you simply have to let me know and I will get you in touch with the person who makes the magic happen – I get a commission, and the world gains another plastic and biomass gobbling robot to help clean our waterways! It’s a win-win! Where I live, it would be a great addition to the canals, but …. seems I cannot get anyone interested just yet.
If you haven’t heard about these fantastic inventions, I have downloadable brochures here.
I’ve also written a couple of articles about the WasteShark:
And here, you can see a video of how these sharks work:
My elementary-grade chapter book series, The Adventures of Shelly Beach, aims to teach children about ocean life and the accompanying subject of ocean health, without being preachy. Book #2 in the series will be out soon, by the way.
I don’t think there could be a better partnership than the one between Shelly Beach and RanMarine’s WasteShark!
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in learning more. [email protected]
