A new Jamaican addition to Amazon’s e-book catalogue follows mermaids and three human children as they tackle the mystery of a wily and potent threat to their environment. The Mermaid Escapade is the fourth book for children by Suzanne Francis-Brown; the first launched exclusively on Amazon’s Kindle.

The Mermaid Escapade was released as a digital book to meet today’s children where they increasingly are. Francis-Brown explains, “Escapade is digital because that’s the cutting edge, especially for young people. More and more people have e-readers. And the cool thing is that people can also download readers onto their computers – whether it’s a tablet or laptop or a computer at home or at school. I only recently realised that you can now download a free Kindle reader to tap into this world of e-books.”

The story starts with a scary experience that leads the mermaids to break a cardinal rule — stay out of sight of humans. What follows is an intersection of mermaid twins, a sea wizard, human children, their fierce Grandmother and the mighty, majestic River Mumma. Trust, loyalty and resourcefulness are tested as the underwater realm and the air-breathers aboveground track and tackle an ever-increasing threat.

The Mermaid Escapade can be downloadedfrom Amazon free for the month of March. It goes on sale April 1, 2013.