My tongue wouldn’t work, but it didn’t matter. Your mother has been promoted to Chief Pollinator. When we got to the podium, the CEO held up a set of keys and jangled them in the air. Mom’s hand was shaky and sweaty against my palm, but her hair glowed under the lights like a superstar’s. She took my hand, and we walked out onto the stage slowly, one foot in front of the other, waving at the audience like we’d rehearsed. It matters if you act brave, Mom whispered. I peeked out at five hundred people fanning themselves in the audience, and my knees turned to Jell-O. Mom and I stood backstage in matching yellow dresses while the CEO of Beauty & the Bee gave a speech about how Mom’s stick-to-itiveness had helped her sell more honey-based beauty products than anyone else in the Midwest region.

The awards ceremony was held in a hotel ballroom with gold flowers in loop-de-loops on the ceiling.

Louis, Missouri, for the annual Beauty & the Bee convention. The summer Mom won the Beemobile, we got to fly all the way from Chicago to St. If you set a goal, work hard, and stick to the plan, you, too, can win a car shaped like a bee.

A honeypot air freshener hung from the rearview mirror, and the minute I breathed in that sticky-sweet smell, I realized everything Mom had ever told me was true. It was the most beautiful car I’d ever seen-a bright-yellow hybrid with sleek black stripes down the sides and fuzzy bee antennas bouncing around on top.

I was seven when I took my first ride in the Beemobile. Josephine Cameron’s energetic and heartfelt debut raises timeless questions about truth, lies, and the hope that grows between them. Anthoni has a plan-a foolproof checklist for making lifelong friends! There won’t be any maybes this time.īut as she grows entangled in local gossip, and her mother stretches the truth, Anthoni must decide if she’ll “stick to the plan,” like always, or dive into a summer full of extraordinary possibilities. But it’s been hard to find one, since for the past five years she’s been bouncing from town to town, helping her mother sell Beauty & the Bee cosmetic products to keep them both afloat. So when her mom brings her to Thunder Lake for a summer at the Showboat Resort, she doesn’t believe the local rumors about the Boulay Mermaid.Īnthoni has bigger fish to fry. A summer romp full of mystery, new friends, and maybe a mermaid!Įleven-year-old Anthoni Gillis is not the kind of kid who believes in fairies, unicorns, or even the word “maybe.” She’s more of a comic-books girl.

Maybe a Mermaid by Josephine Cameron