Mystery at Mermaid Cove

Contents Cover Title Page Chapter 1: Wake-Up Call Chapter 2: What Time Is It? Chapter 3: View from a Cloud Chapter 4: Itty Meets a Mermaid Chapter 5: A Plan with Aria Chapter 6: Time to Give Up? Chapter 7: A Voice in the Distance Chapter 8: Sunset Swim Chapter 9: Mermaid Mystery: Solved! Chapter 10: A Special Concert About the Author and Illustrator Copyright Guide Cover Start of Content Title Page About the Author and Illustrator Copyright I II III V VI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 
 
 Itty Bitty Princess Kitty
 12
 Mystery at Mermaid Cove
 by Melody Mews
 Illustrated by Ellen Stubbings
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 
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 First Little Simon hardcover edition January 2023. Copyright © 2023 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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 Designed by Laura Roode.
 Jacket design by Laura Roode
 Jacket illustrations by Ellen Stubbings
 Jacket illustrations © 2023 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Mews, Melody, author. | Stubbings, Ellen, illustrator. Title: Mystery at Mermaid Cove / by Melody Mews ; illustrated by Ellen Stubbings. Description: First Little Simon paperback edition. | New York : Little Simon, 2023. | Series: Itty bitty Princess Kitty ; 12 | Audience: Ages 5-9. | Summary: Itty must figure out why the mermaids of Lollyland have stopped singing. Identifiers: LCCN 2022028127 (print) | LCCN 2022028128 (ebook) | ISBN 9781665928045 (paperback) | ISBN 9781665928052 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781665928069 (ebook) Subjects: CYAC: Mermaids—Fiction. | Singing—Fiction. | Cats—Fiction. | Princesses—Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M4976 My 2023 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.M4976 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028127
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028128
 
 
 
 chapter 1 Wake-Up Call 
 Itty Bitty Princess Kitty was fast asleep when something woke her up. She sat up in bed. It was still dark in her room. What had awakened her?
 Itty was just about to snuggle back under the covers when she heard a sound. And not just any sound. It was the mermaids from Mermaid Cove singing the time. As Itty listened, the mermaids sang eight notes, which meant it was eight o'clock. It also meant she had overslept!
 
 
 Itty sprang from bed. She had to get ready for school quickly! She couldn’t believe she had slept so late. Her parents, the King and Queen of Lollyland, must have too, or surely one of them would have knocked on her door.
 
 Itty was grabbing her backpack when she heard the mermaids again. This time Itty heard six notes, which didn’t make any sense. How could it be eight o'clock and then, minutes later, six o'clock? Itty peered out the window and saw that it was still dark outside. It wasn’t usually dark when she left for school.
 
 “Itty, slow down,” Queen Kitty murmured sleepily as Itty sped through the royal foyer.
 “But, Mom, I’m going 
 
 chapter 2 What Time Is It? 
 That evening Itty sat in the royal dining room with her father.
 “Where’s Mom?” Itty asked.
 “I don’t know. It’s not like her to be late for dinner,” the King replied.
 Itty looked around.
 Just then the Queen rushed in. She explained that she had lost track of time.
 
 “Oh, but you haven’t started,” she noticed. “Where is dinner?” she asked as she settled into