What My Child Said After We Closed the Book

She sat with it for a moment. Then she said: 'Mama, I think I'm both.' And I realized, that was exactly the point."

The story doesn't end. It begins.

Here is something I have learned, over years of writing stories for children: the best books don't finish when you close the cover. They start something. A question. A conversation. A small light that keeps glowing in the quiet after the last page.

The Twin Mermaids of the Island Moon was written to be one of those books. Not just something your child holds in their hands at bedtime. Something they carry into the morning.

What children are saying.

In the two weeks since the Island Moon Universe launched, families have been reading together — at bedtime, on rainy afternoons, curled up on weekends with the coloring kit spread across the table. And they've been sharing what their children said after the final page.

A seven-year-old girl told her mother: "I want to be Mahinaʻala, but sometimes I feel like Maharaya." Her mother wrote to us with three words: "That's my daughter."

A six-year-old boy — who had never once asked to be read the same book twice, asked his father to start over from the beginning the moment they finished.

A kindergarten teacher told us that when she read the opening lines aloud "the ocean whispered two names into the deep", her classroom went still for the first time all year.

These are the moments this book was made for.

How to make the magic last.

The space after the last page, that quiet minute when the book is closed and the story is still warm in the room, is one of the most powerful windows you will ever have with your child. Here are five questions worth asking in that moment:

Five questions to ask after the book is closed:

•       "When the sisters were afraid, they held onto each other. Who do you hold onto when something feels scary?"

•       "Maharaya and Mahinaʻala had different gifts. What do you think your gift is?"

•       "If you could bring one hidden treasure from the ocean floor up to the surface, what would it be, and who would you give it to?"

•       "The Island Moon lights up the whole ocean. What is something you do that helps other people find their way?"

•       "If the twin mermaids came to visit you, what is the one thing you would want to show them about where you come from?"

Let your child lead. Let the conversation go wherever it goes. The answers will surprise you, and they will tell you something true about who your little one is becoming.

The Island Moon Coloring Kit  - where the story continues at the table.

After the reading, the conversation, then comes the creating. The Island Moon Coloring Kit was designed to extend the world of Maharaya and Mahinaʻala into the rest of your child's week. Twelve pages of twin mermaid scenes, ocean activity sheets, and a printable bookmark, all waiting for your child's imagination to fill them in.

We've been sharing colored pages from families in our community and every single one is different. Every reef a different color. Every moon a different shade of gold. That's the Island Moon Universe at work: a world your child makes their own.

 

Share Your Family's Reading Night

Did your child say something unforgettable after the last page? Did they color Maharaya's scales a color that only exists in their imagination? We want to see it. Share your family's Island Moon moment using #IslandMoonCove and tag us on Instagram, and you may find your child featured as our next Gallery Artist of the Month.

→ Follow @IslandMoonUniverse on Instagram

 

The Book That Started It All

If you haven't yet brought The Twin Mermaids of the Island Moon home, the ocean is still calling. It always is.

→ Bring the Story Home — Shop Now