Mayall, Beth

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Mayall, Beth

Personal

Female. Education: West Chester University, B.A. (literature).

Addresses

Home—Santa Monica, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Razorbill/Penguin Putnam, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Novelist and journalist. Former editor, All about You magazine; freelance writer.

Awards, Honors

National journalism fellowship; American Library Association Top Ten Books for Teens nomination, 2005, for Mermaid Park.

Writings

(With Juliana Farrell) Middle School: The Real Deal: From Cafeteria Food to Combination Locks, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Galaxy Girl (includes makeover kit), Tangerine Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Glamour Girl (includes makeover kit), Tangerine Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Mermaid Park, Razorbill (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including Marie Claire, YM, Twist, Sassy, CosmoGirl, TeenStyle, and Hot! Contributing editor, Teen magazine.

Sidelights

Beth Mayall penned her first novel, Mermaid Park, for the same teen readership she focuses on in her journalism and editorial work. The California-based writer has worked as an editor for All about You magazine, and has contributed to many of the most popular national teen periodicals. Although Mermaid Park is her first published novel, it is not Mayall's first published book; that honor goes to the nonfiction guide Middle School: The Real Deal: From Cafeteria Food to Combination Locks. Published in 2001 and co-authored by Juliana Farrell, Middle School is a guide for uncertain "tweens" making the transition from elementary school to middle school. Reviewing the work for Booklist, Gillian Engberg described the book as "written in the style of a breezy magazine piece."

In Mermaid Park readers meet sixteen-year-old Amy, who becomes disillusioned when her high hopes for a pleasant family vacation at the beach disintegrate due to her stepfather's bullying and the continued eruption of typical family squabbles. Then she discovers an underwater show featuring teen swimmers dressed in mermaid costumes, and Amy decides that being a part of that glamorous world will change her life for the better. Convincing her parents to leave her at the beach in the care of family friend Lynne, Amy spends the summer working toward her goal of swimming at Mermaid Park and also builds a romantic relationship with a local boy working at Lynne's motel. In Booklist Engberg praised the novel's "evocative setting, magic, and authentically drawn" protagonists, and cited Mayall's "easy, compelling prose." In Kirkus Reviews a writer noted that Mermaid Park "juxtaposes moments of pain with wonderment" and features an ending that "packs a powerful punch," while Carly B. Wiskoff wrote in School Library Journal that the relationship between Amy and her mother is "painfully realistic."

Discussing the inspiration for writing Mermaid Park on her home page, Mayall noted: "My family went to the Jersey shore a lot growing up…. Summers can be brutal there. I mean, picture piling into a car with no A/C, driving three hours down from Philadelphia—then spending late nights crammed into a tiny hotel room….

"But then there's the good stuff. The beach, the sun, the adorable guys. It's the first time I remember sort of having a little taste of freedom, and that moment felt big to me. So I wrote a short story about it … and the short story became the book."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of Middle School: The Real Deal: From Cafeteria Food to Combination Locks, p. 1858; October 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Mermaid Park, p. 49.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2005, review of Mermaid Park, p. 686.

Philadelphia, June, 2005, Kate McGrath, review of Mermaid Park.

School Library Journal, September, 2005, Carly B. Wiskoff, review of Mermaid Park, p. 207.

Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 2005, Cynthia Winfield, review of Mermaid Park, p. 221.