Turgeon, Carolyn. Mermaid.

Turgeon, Carolyn.  Mermaid.   Broadway Books see Random, 2011.  240p.   $16.00 ISBN 9780307589972     jr/sr E-BN  Fairy Tale     

     Lenia the mermaid saves the Prince of the South from drowning and places him at the feet of the Princess of the North. The princess mistakenly believes it is a gift from the mermaid and that this young prince is meant for her.   It is Lenia’s 18th birthday and it is her turn to go above and experience the world above the sea and spend time with the people who live on the land. On her way up from the bottom of the ocean, she experiences a little bit of turbulence and she investigates. It is a terrible sea storm and it has destroyed a ship full of men. One of them falls into the water near Lenia and she swims to help him. He almost drowns, and he will need help from the land.  Lenia decides to help him. As she holds him in her arms and swims to shore, she has the opportunity to observe him and she falls in love with him.
     She leaves him on the beach and spots another girl. She communicates telepathically that he needs help and moves back into the water.  Lenia waits until the man is rescued and then turns to go home with determination in her heart. She must find a way to go above and win his heart, no matter the cost.
Lenia decides to give up her sea life, even if it means leaving her whole family behind. She strikes a bargain with the Sea Witch, but the price she has paid is even more dire than she can imagine.
     It is the basic "Little Mermaid" story, but then it takes an adult look at the relationship between the mermaid, the prince and the princess.  This is a story you will want to read.             

Subject: Mermaids -- Fiction.  2. Princesses -- Fiction

Magna Diaz

 

Jeffs, Brent Lost Boy

Jeffs, Brent Lost Boy
Broadway Books see Random 2009 241p 24.95 978-0-7679-3177-9 hs/adult

Brent Jeffs, member of a fundamentalist Mormon sect, tells about life in a polygamist community and the sexual abuse from leader Warren Jeffs. Brent heartbreakingly documents the life of boys who are culled to lessen the number of males. For grades 10 and older. Brent Jeffs knew something was wrong when he was five years old and he was sexually abused by Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Life inside a polygamist community is well documented with all the jealousy between wives, lack of money to feed the 15 people in Brent’s household, and the strict religious guidelines followed in the community. The biblical background and Mormon beliefs adopted by this sect are explained along with the feelings that members had in following the dictates of Warren Jeffs. As the dictates grew more strict - what TV shows were acceptable, what clothing had to be worn, the contact allowed between sexes outside of marriage, and the beliefs that Gentiles were evil - the lives of members became almost robotic. Polygamy depends upon having fewer males than females as each male strives for at least three wives. Therefore, two of Brent’s older brothers are rejected for various sins and tossed out of the community. As Brent’s family succumbs to infighting between wives, Brent too leaves the community. All three brothers descend into drug and alcohol addiction with the older two brothers committing suicide. Brent struggles with assimilation into city life as do all the “Lost Boys” who are cast out of the FLDS. Brent’s childhood memories come to haunt him and he along with other “Lost Boys” file a lawsuit against Warren Jeffs for sexual abuse that leads to Warren’s imprisonment. Strong, realistic depiction of drug use, sexual abuse and occasional language limit this book to upper high school and adults who are curious about the FLDS. LMN

Doomed Queens. by Kris Waldherr

Waldherr, Kris. Doomed Queens.
Broadway Books (Random), 2008, 176p, $14.95, 978-0-7679-2899-1.

Discusses the unfortunate deaths of fifty different queens throughout history and examines what they had in common that led to their untimely demise.
Technically, Princess Di was not a queen, but she was royal by marriage and by all accounts, the marriage was doomed from the start. And of course, her life ended tragically. Diana is not alone; other royal women as far back 835 BC shared her fate. In a light, entertaining narrative, readers learn about royal women who met an untimely end through poisoning, starvation, beheading and assassination, to name a few. The queenly profiles are divided chronologically by chapter, from the Biblical to the semi-modern, with a quirky end of chapter multiple choice quiz at the end of each chapter. Each profile is short but succinct, ranging from one to three pages, and highlights the well-known doomed queens (the wives of Henry VII and Marie Antoinette) to the lesser known (Caroline of Brunswick and Urraca of Castille) to the multicultural (Oghul Ghaimish and Empress Xu Pingjun). A cautionary moral is associated with each queen. For example: “Don’t marry a man in love with another man.” Had Roxanne, the wife of Alexander the Great, realized this, she may have saved herself much heartache as well as death by poisoning. Pencil sketches and sidebar information accompanies most profiles. Includes a timeline, Table of Contents and an Index.
Recommended as brain candy - a fun read. RZ