Teegan is an 11 year old girl who lives with her father in present day Jamaica. Her father runs a tour boat that also doubles as an oyster bar. Teegan often helps her dad fish for, and collect oysters along the Black River. Her mother was murdered when she was about 9 (Jamaica has a really high murder rate), and the beads she wears around her neck once belonged to her mother. As a result of her mother's murder, Teegan has become somewhat withdrawn and shy, but she also has a very kind heart, a warm spirit, and is resourceful. Teegan loves insects and bugs, and she would collect them except for the fact that she does not want to kill them, because her mother was killed. So instead, she carries her camera with her wherever she goes to take pictures of insects which she then cuts out and tapes into a book so it looks like a bug collection.
One day while collecting oysters with her dad, Teegan spots a butterfly she has yet to capture the perfect picture of. So she follows it deeper and deeper into a Mangrove forest and eventually discovers the wishing well, which is made out of the roots of a giant Mangrove tree. She then meets Anansi, my creature, who is based off of the West African myth of Anansi the trickster spider. Anansi is somewhat selfish and greedy, so when he sees Teegan's bug book, he instantly wants it. So he promises to grant her a wish if she gives him her book. Teegan is reluctant at first but wants to see her mom again, so she gives Anansi her book in exchange for this. However, Anansi has tricked her and her mother never comes, so Teegan then must figure out a way to outsmart a trickster.
I still have to go back and make revisions to everything before May, but this is what I have for now.
Ideations:
