Author Melanie Hope Greenberg to read ‘Mermaids on Parade’ at Barnes & Noble Cobble Hill

COBBLE HILL — Brooklyn’s essential guide to the legendary Coney Island Mermaid Parade is a children’s book.

The Mermaid Parade marks the start of summer, which officially begins after King Neptune and Queen Mermaid throw fruit off Steeplechase Pier as an offering to the gods of the sea.

The free-spirited spectacle, with its fantastically-costumed mer-creatures, dancers and bands in nautical get-ups (who needs clothes under the waves?) is hard to put into words.

Illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg, however, has captured the mood of the zany Brooklyn revel in her picture book, “Mermaids on Parade.” The book tells the story from the point of view of a little girl who dresses up as a “Shy Mermaid Coming Out of Her Shell,” marches in the parade through Coney Island’s familiar scenery, and then wins the Best Little Mermaid award. The pages of the book overflow with colorful illustrations of the diverse sea creatures she marches alongside, and neighborhoods she marches through.

“Today is the day when mermaids, Neptunes and other legendary sea creatures leave their oceans to walk on land,” the girl explains.

Greenberg’s paintings nail Coney Island’s familiar shops and arcades, Astroland, Nathan’s hot dog stand, the F train. There’s even an accurate map of the parade route and simple instructions on how to make a mermaid tail in the back.

Since first published in 2008, “Mermaids on Parade” has become a children’s classic, making the list of Brooklyn Public Library’s “125 Essential Brooklyn Books.” (Ranked right up there with Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” Jonathan Letham’s “Motherless Brooklyn,” and David…