“Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony” is a truly multifaceted novel: it doesn’t just focus on the little mermaid’s undersea adventures, but narrates the highs and lows of her life on land, too.
If you are a parent or guardian who’s considering moving abroad, and you’re looking for a novel about a teenager character who had this experience, look no further.
Amelia Quintana grew up in Antemidia and only had to leave Antemidia for Portugal after a violent earthquake swept her palace off the ground.
Upon moving to Europe, Amelia struggled with many things. Aside getting used to a lone life on land, and having new responsibilities (such as cleaning, or buying things), Amelia had to face the very challenging problem of enrolling into a foreign school.
She struggled with this a lot. She had trouble understanding the teachers and students because she didn’t speak Portuguese. She could understand some of it thanks to the language’s general proximity to her mother tongue, Spanish, but that was it. Surviving class was a huge challenge for her, since she didn’t have any who could help her, beside her classmates who were also transfer students.
The experience of being far from home in a strange land without any good means of communicating, can be frightening. And yet, Amelia was manage to deal with everything. She didn’t land herself in any trouble, neither at school, nor outside, and even kept her life sorted enough to begin training karate in her free time.
This article is not meant to frighten you as a parent or guardian, but to help you realize that sending your kid to a foreign school when they don’t speak the language, is going to be much tougher for them than you could possibly image.
Maxine Foti, the author of “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony,” struggled a lot like Amelia, when her mother decided to leave their home country, Poland, and move to Italy. Maxine struggled to communicate with others, and found it very challenging to keep up with her studies. To be able to pass classes, she had to learn the text in the book by heart, the way one would study a poem. It took her a lot of effort and time to master the language. However, she still remembers the experience positively. Studying in a foreign country can be very enriching, and create future opportunities.
In the end, it’s up to the parents to weigh the pros against the cons. Every child is different, and not everyone will respond to these challenges the same way. Moving away from home, and starting school elsewhere can be exciting for some kids, but a pain for the others. Talk to your kids to know what’s best for them, and don’t forget to give them a copy of “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony” so that they can have the experience together with Amelia, first, and see whether they’d like it!
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Grab your copy of “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony” here:
English: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08T6BJ6RG
Spanish: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z8GK1JX
Italian: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0953PN3Y7
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