Janet Balletta, a native New Yorker and descendant of Colombian and Puerto Rican parents, created an intriguing story furthering a mermaid legend in her mysterious and magical book titled the Legend of the Colombian Mermaid. It was recently published in 2013 (also available in Spanish, published and launched in 2014), which keeps the tradition of an ancient legend going year-after-year occurring on Good Fridays during Easter week. The original legend dating back since 1917 took place in a town called Valledupar in Colombia where a young girl defied her parents and went swimming in the enticing river waters on Good Friday. According to the legend the girl was cursed and turned into a mermaid as she was full of disobedience and did not observe the traditions of Good Friday, a holy day observed by Catholics. Banished to the river waters forever, La Sirena became menacing and used her beautiful singing voice to lure children into the waters so she could snatch them, change their human form into a merchild and forever hold them captives of the water. Mrs. Balletta retells the legend of La Sirena De Hurtado in her Legend of the Colombian Mermaid, wherein Judith, a ten-year-old girl, and Tomas, who is five, go out on Holy Thursday during Holy Week of Easter to play. Judith was distracted and did not notice Tomas was missing. Being mindful of the legend claiming swimming in the river is forbidden on Good Friday, Judith assumes the worst. She fears her brother, if not found in time, may be captured by La Sirena, the Colombian Mermaid. Judith portrays the perfect caring sibling toward her brother, Tomas, as an absolute panic engulfs her when she finds him missing. The most important thing in the world to her is finding her dear brother before sun up on Good Friday, else it could be too late. As the story portrays, she imparts faith, wisdom, and trust in her search to find Tomas. Mrs. Balletta has made the legend very exciting, keeping readers hooked on every word to find out every last detail. The reader's eyes are drawn to the words of this folktale much like the children of this legend were drawn to the river waters. Mrs. Balletta has made it extremely hard to put this book down. The Legend of the Colombian Mermaid teaches children tradition, lessons in faith, good values, and celebrates cultural history. As Mrs. Balletta works as a bilingual second grade teacher in Port St. Lucie, Florida, she was inspired to write her exciting legend retelling because of her two daughters, who have a love of mermaids. As most teachers are, she is especially passionate about literacy and hopes her book will inspire children to develop an enthusiasm for multicultural literature. The original legend is a favorite and treasured bedtime story Mrs. Balletta heard hundreds of times as a child, told by her mother, and being such a captivating story she wishes to distribute her retelling worldwide making it just as favored and treasured among generations to come. To find the Legend of the Colombian Mermaid by Janet Balletta, visit Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Colombian-Mermaid-Janet-Balletta/dp/0985676299, and in Spanish at http://www.amazon.com/Leyenda-Sirena-Colombiana-Spanish/dp/0990904008/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8, and to read more about this author, visit her at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Legend-of-the-Colombian-Mermaid/144278 or her website at http://www.colombianmermaid.com.