Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens
by Dana Hammer
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GENRE: Middle Grade Fiction
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BOOK BLURB:
It’s the end of the school year. For most kids, it’s time to relax and get ready for summer. For Fanny, there’s work. She has a brand-new baby brother, and she’s been hired by Zeus to look after his “injured” son. And she still has her and her friends’ cheesemaking business! Fanny is overwhelmed.
But then she meets three sirens who want Fanny to join them on Feather Island for a summer of singing, instrument playing, and fun at the beach. The program is totally free and could start an amazing musical career-the thing that Fanny has always wanted the most.
Athena and Gemma are dead set against it. Athena says that the sirens are bad news; that their whole purpose in life is to lure men to their deaths with their beautiful singing. Gemma says that Feather Island is part of a network of unmappable islands, the type of place where criminals and sketchy organizations hoard their wealth and do their crimes.
Surely, the sirens don’t do that anymore, right? All that stuff was a long time ago. If the sirens want to keep their island paradise a secret, well, that’s not so weird, is it? Fanny has talked to them, and she just knows that they aren’t as evil as everyone says. They are perfectly nice ladies.
Right?
Follow Fanny Fitzpatrick as she navigates big sisterhood, friends who disapprove of her life choices, burning ambitions, and a bunch of sirens luring her away to their private island.
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EXCERPT TWO:
But I don’t have a chance to practice or not practice, because I remember that I have a Zoom date with Gemma and Athena. I head down to the computer and log in to the meeting.
Gemma and Athena are already in there, talking about something. They look serious and sour, but Gemma is wearing the most adorable newsboy hat with embroidered flowers on it, and I squeal when I see it.
“Gemma, that hat though!”
They stop talking and look at me, not smiling. I realize something weird is going on, and so I stop smiling.
“Fanny, we need to talk,” says Athena.
That’s not good.
“Um. Gemma? How’s England?” Gemma shakes her head at me.
I look back to Athena, who has crossed her arms, which makes her look like a strict disciplinarian who’s about to give me a terrible lecture. And I realize that’s exactly what’s about to happen.
“Herman told me everything,” Athena says.
“Um.”
“You let those things in your house! After I specifically told you how dangerous they are!”
“I didn’t let them in,” I say, which I realize is a wimpy thing to say, but I can’t think of anything better. “My dad did.”
“What did they want? Why were they there, at your house?”
“Well—”
“Do you have any idea how many people sirens have killed over the course of these millennia?”
“But that was a long time ago!” I say, sounding desperate and silly, even to my own ears.
“Fanny,” Gemma says, quietly, looking around to make sure no one is listening to her. “I’m not supposed to say this. But there are these islands. A few of them. And they have special deals with the UN, NATO, the African Union, and a few others that I’m not allowed to even say the names of. They have diplomatic immunity. They operate under their own laws, and they answer to no one. They’re unmappable, untraceable. I’ve been talking to Athena, and I think these islands are owned by the sirens.”
“You sound like conspiracy theorists,” I say, rolling my eyes. “How do you even know about these top-secret islands if they’re so top secret?”
“My parents,” Gemma says, like it’s obvious. I guess it should be obvious. I still have no idea what her parents do for a living, but they seem to jet around the planet a lot, with machete-bearing security guards, so I guess it must be important. Still.
“Well, Feather Island is a school. A school for musicians,” I say, trying to reassure them. “There’s a brochure and everything.”
I wish I had the brochure so I could show it to them, how lovely and harmless the place is, but my parents have put it somewhere and I don’t know where it is.
“How do you know about Feather Island?” Athena demands, looking even more furious.
Whoops. I guess I’ve gotta tell them now.
“That’s what the sirens wanted. To tell me about their music camp.”
“NO!” Athena shouts, banging her fist on the table in front of her. Splinters of wood fly everywhere and I’m kind of scared now. This is intense, even for Athena. “You can NOT go to this island. I don’t care what they told you. It’s bad news.”
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GUEST POST:
A Playlist for Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens
I like to create playlists of music that set the mood for whatever I want to write. Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens is about a preteen girl who is recruited by sirens to attend a summer camp for aspiring singers. Fanny is an energetic, determined kid, with a strong moral compass and fierce loyalty to her friends. I wanted a playlist that would reflect that. Here are the songs on it.
(Please note, I am not a preteen girl. These are not present-day cool kid songs. But they work for me, to get me into the right headspace.)
1.) Sweet Shop Avengerz, Bis
A high-energy song about raiding a candy shop. I think that’s what it’s about anyway.
2.) Paper Bag, Fiona Apple
There are actually several Fiona Apple songs I listen to when writing Fanny Fitzpatrick stories, because I imagine Fanny’s voice being something similar to Fiona’s, but a little less mature.
3.) Give Me Chocolate, Baby Metal
The juxtaposition of little girls singing with heavy metal screaming is delightful, and representative of Fanny’s sweetness and her toughness.
4.) Best Friend, Saweetie/Doja Cat
Fanny loves her friends, and always supports and helps them. I can imagine her and her friends doing a coordinated dance routine to this song.
5.) Rebel Girl, Bikini Kill
Fanny is a good feminist, who would never tear down other girls out of jealousy.
6.) Shut Up and Let Me Go, The Ting Tings
I don’t know why, but this song just works for Fanny books.
7.) Wannabe, Spice Girls
Friendship. Girl power.
8.) San Diego Zoo, The 6ths
Who doesn’t like pretty songs about the zoo?
9.) Defying Gravity, from Wicked
Fanny is friends with gods and goddesses and incredibly wealthy people who are always getting her into wacky situations. Fanny is working class and has no supernatural powers, but she doesn’t let those limits define her. She defies gravity, sometimes literally.
10.) We, The Roches
A cool female singing group, sort of a modern day Andrews Sisters.
11.) Don’t Give Up, the Noisettes
Fanny doesn’t give up. Ever.
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AUTHOR BIO & LINKS:
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Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She has won over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she is the author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middle grade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to write something her 9 year old daughter could read.
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