The German-born Riverside resident recently got the news that the manuscript she wrote two summers ago about archaeologists, dinosaur fossils, giants and dragons had landed a publisher.

The work could have easily turned out to be a boring story, she says, had it not been for the advice she got early on from Eric, now a sixth grader at the Riverside Middle School.

Learning that his mother's book was going to deal with many of the things they picked up about dinosaur fossils in their trips to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Eric told her to keep it interesting.

"Don't write a story about science," he advised. "It has to be an adventure."

And looking back, his mom says, "I have to say he was right."

Ullie Emigh is a native of Stuttgart, Germany, who came to the United States in 1980 after receiving degrees in English and Latin from the University of Heidelberg. It was at Brown University, while working on her master's degree in English, that she met her husband, John, who is still at Brown as a professor of theater, speech and dance.

A few years ago, while working as a German-English translator for various agencies, she become fascinated by the study of dinosaurs, thanks to her son's insatiable interest in that subject.

"Eric was absolutely encyclopedic when it came to dinosaurs," she recounted yesterday.

Not only did the family take many pilgrimages to check out the fossils at the natural-history museum, but mother and son read "tons" of books about dinosaurs, as well.

Emigh – whose last name is pronounced Amy – says she heeded her son's advice and tried to write a tale that would appeal to many young readers.

It's called Nika Watters and the Case of the Misplaced Fossil, and centers on the adventures of Nika, a 9-year-old girl from Providence who goes with her mom, an archaeologist, to a dig in southern Germany (not far, it happens, from where the author used to live).

"The dig is of a Roman villa from the first century, where the archaeologists discover two dinosaur-age fossils."

That discovery offers an opportunity for the author to acquaint her young readers about one theory as to how some of the old Roman and Chinese myths about dragons and giants originated. The Romans and Chinese crafted their dragon tales in response to the fossils they found.

"I wouldn't call myself a scientist, but I am interested in where science and human imagination overlap," she says. "This is one of them. The Romans were constructing a story based on what they saw."

But there's more to this East Providence author's tale than the origin of certain ancient myths. In this book, Nika becomes friendly with the son of the inn owner where her family has been staying. The two of them discover a secret that has been in the landlord's family for years.

Emigh says she hopes the story will be the first in a series of Nika adventure books that will take young readers to places far and near. Though she has an idea for Nika's next adventure, in Bali, she wouldn't rule out having Nika go to more local haunts as well, in Providence and Newport.

And why the name Nika Watters?

"Nika would have been our son's name if he were born a girl," she says. "And Watters Elementary was his first school."

Emigh's contract with Publish America, the Maryland-based publishing firm that's paying her for the book, says publication will take place within the year. She says the firm has a reputation among writers as being open to the works of previously unpublished authors.