The Tail of Caterina Mermaid


 * Gnewa.jpg|thumb|252px|right|Caterina and Gina, mortified after their friends evacuate the lunch table on account of the former's stinky seaweed salad. ]]Gnewa.jpg

The Tail of Caterina Mermaid is a 2009 children's illustrated novel by Caterina LoMedico Marriott; it is Marriott's first published book as well as the first installment of the Caterina Mermaid/Epic Tail Series.

Synopsis
Caterina is a sixteen-year-old girl who attends landlocked Hillnook High School. Her scientific and artistic interests in the ocean as well as her passion for the environment and overall eccentricity have long since made her a bit of a social outcast to virtually everyone but her best friend, Gina, who may or may not be the only person who tolerates Caterina's weirdness, however better assimilated to Hillnook than the latter, because they share a common secret: they are mermaids. One of Caterina's favorite pastimes being music, she leads the Hillnook congregation in hymns on mandolin and vocals every Sunday. But one week after classmate Luc Malone sits right next to her in the choir loft and shortly thereafter shows a certain interest in her at school, Caterina worries that he may have fallen for the sometimes-unfortunate side effect of mermaid song, and may only love her for her music. However one day, Caterina sees Luc walking into school with another girl and soon must visit the wise creatures of the sea to help her determine whether the magic has worn off, or she is simply overreacting and it is true love.

Background
Hillnook takes its name from Millbrook, NY, where Caterina LoMedico Marriott attended school. The plot is inspired by a crush Marriott experienced when she was about the age of the title character, and most of the events in the book really happened but have been slightly embellished for the sake of coherence. Marriott had always aspired to find a way to be a mermaid, as a little girl having imagined her alter-ego to be "Katherina the Mermaid"; but really did not start to make good on that aspiration until around ninth grade, the time of both the initial Church scene and the science class used in the story. However, it wasn't until the middle of her sophomore year (a few months after the "other girl" part) that Marriott decided to start writing a book about an eccentric adolescent mermaid who has social trouble and is convinced she can use her fishiness to save the world from pollution.