Merryn's Journey

by Brian Hastings, Tony Mora (Illustrator), Alexis Seabrook (Illustrator)

Overview

“This is a story about the nature of heroism and how far we will go to help those we love.” —Author Brian Hastings
 
In a little cottage, where the cliffs meet the waves, lived a young girl named Merryn . . .
Each day her father went out to sea to catch fish while Merryn tended her garden. And every night he came home and sang her a lullaby about a mysterious world that lay below the waves—a world of serpents, merrows, monsters, and a sunken city made of gold. Then, one day, everything changed: her father didn’t return from the sea. When Merryn dreams that he’s in danger, she knows there’s only one thing to do: she must dive beneath the waves and save him. Based on the new Song of the Deep video game, this magical picture book takes children on a strange and beautiful adventure. 
           
Readers can also experience Merryn’s daring journey firsthand in the new Song of the Deep video game from acclaimed developer Insomniac Games.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454921615
Publisher:	Sterling Children's Books
Publication date:	10/04/2016
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	997,643
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 Years

About the Author

Brian Hastings has been creating video games with Insomniac Games for 21 years. He helped develop the stories and worlds for Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet and Clank, and now, Song of the Deep. As a child, Brian dreamed of being an author, and this is his first book. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. You can learn more about his work and Song of the Deep at insomniacgames.com and on Twitter @songofthedeep.

Editorial Reviews

Aug. 30, 2016
In this video game spinoff, a fisherman’s daughter builds a submarine and sets out to find her missing father.Being a capable tool user (or so readers are told, anyway), young Merryn cobbles her sub together in jig time. Over the course of her undersea search, she bandages a wounded half-human merrow, destroys the glowing Deeplight that had lured many sailors to their dooms, finds her shipwrecked dad alive in a fortuitously placed diving bell, and is rescued from a huge, tentacled monster by the even larger mother of a baby sea serpent she had previously saved. These adventures would have been even more exciting had they actually been depicted in the illustrations—but, rare exceptions aside, Mora and Seabrook opt to focus instead on Merryn’s determined face, exotic seascapes, and “after” views rather than actual creative activity or moments of action. Back on land at last, father and daughter (both of whom are white) set about building a new boat that will, henceforth, carry them together. Merryn’s role here is refreshingly active, but readers really have only the author’s word for it. (map) (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Review