Wiesner, David, and Donna Jo Napoli. Fish Girl.

Wiesner, David, and Donna Jo Napoli.  Fish Girl. Houghton Mifflin/Clarion     2017  186p  $17.99  Paperback  ISBN 978-0-547-48393-1  elem/ms  Graphic novel     E-BN 

In a seaside attraction with a multilevel aquarium there lives a mermaid. Her best friend is an octopus.  She is the star attraction, but she has been taught to let the audience get only quick glimpses of her. The man who runs the attraction calls himself Neptune.  He tells the story that he is the god of the sea and makes waves and lightning with his trident.
 

The mermaid disobeys him and meets a human girl, who visits often.  To try to see what is really going on, the mermaid climbs out of her tank and discovers she has legs when her tail is dry.  During a very heavy storm she escapes the aquarium and frees all the other fish who were also trapped there.  On the beach amid the destruction caused by the storm, she finds her friend and goes off with her family.
  

The illustrations are luscious, using vibrant color with a great amount of detail. The mermaid is very tactfully drawn, hidden behind various sea creatures or plants, or wearing a dress. The words are minimal, with the thoughts of the mermaid shown in blocks rather than bubbles.  The story line follows the background story of mermaids.  Readers will love it.  This will be an excellent purchase for upper-elementary and middle-school students.

Summary: Fish Girl tells the story of a mermaid.  She is on display at a seaside attraction cared for by a man who calls himself Neptune.  She meets a human girl and wishes to be human, too. Grade 5-8.   

Mermaids-Fiction                                            --Joan Theal

Wiesner, David, and Donna Jo Napoli. Fish Girl.

Wiesner, David, and Donna Jo Napoli.  Fish Girl.  Houghton Mifflin/Clarion  2017    186p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-547-48393-1      elem/ms     Fantasy  E-BN    

In a seaside attraction with a multilevel aquarium there lives a mermaid whose best friend is an octopus.  She is the star attraction, but she has been taught to let the audience only get quick glimpses of her.  The man who runs the attraction calls himself Neptune.  He tells the story that he is the god of the sea and makes waves and lightning with his trident.

The mermaid disobeys her boss and meets a human girl who visits often.  To try to see what is really going on, the mermaid climbs out of her tank and discovers she has legs when her tail is dry.  During a very heavy storm she escapes the aquarium and frees all the other fish who were also trapped there.
 

On the beach amid the destruction caused by the storm, she finds her friend and goes off with her family.
  

The illustrations are luscious, featuring vibrant color with a great amount of detail. The mermaid is very tactfully drawn, hidden behind various sea creatures or plants, or wearing a dress. The words are limited, with the thoughts of the mermaid shown in blocks rather than bubbles.  The story line follows the background story of mermaids.  Readers will love it.              

Summary: This graphic novel tells the story of a mermaid.  She is on display at a seaside attraction cared for by a man who calls himself Neptune.  She meets a human girl and wishes to be human, too. Grade 5-8.

Mermaids-Fiction                                                  --Joan Theal

The Twice Lost (series Lost Voices Trilogy: Book 3).

Porter, Sarah.  The Twice Lost (series Lost Voices Trilogy: Book 3).  Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt Brace  2013  471p  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-547-48252-1  hs  VG-BNS       

Luce, a mermaid, organizes exiled mermaids to fight the United States government in its attempts to slaughter them.  Can she negotiate a peaceable compromise?   Third in the Lost Voices trilogy, The Twice Lost is the tale of once-human girls first lost when a trauma transformed them into mermaids, then lost a second time when they broke mermaid law and were rejected by their tribes.  Luce transforms the exiles, living under the docks of San Francisco Bay, into an army.  As their general, she battles the United States government, which is determined to hunt the mermaids to extinction and end the their practice of sinking ships and drowning humans, which has been going on for centuries.

As Luce struggles to negotiate an amicable compromise, an antidote is developed that will return mermaids to their human forms and to their families.  But Luce is torn.  Despite her love for her father and her human boyfriend, Dorian, she still has unresolved issues to address, such as her need to get humans to improve their care of the oceans.  As the most recognizable mermaid on the planet, will her voice be as powerful as that of a human? Or as an ocean denizen?

The novel stands on its own.  However, most readers will return to read the previous two volumes to better round out the characters and back story.

Summary: Luce, a mermaid, organizes exiled mermaids to fight the United States government in its attempts to slaughter them.  Can she negotiate a peaceable compromise?

Mermaids-Fiction, Environment-Fiction                       --Hilary Welliver

Of Poseidon

Banks, Anna.  Of Poseidon.    Macmillan/ Feiwel & Friends   326p  $17.99  978-1-250-00332-4           secondary         VG      Fantasy    

Galen, a ‘merman’ literally bumps into Syrena while trying to find a girl who can communicate with fish and save his underwater world.  The problem is, Syrena does not at first realize that she is that girl.  This is a teen romance that grows as Syrena and Galen learn about the full power of her abilities.  This is a cute teen romance set in a world with merpeople with the oceans as a backdrop.  The story reads quickly, wrapping the reader into the tale from the beginning.  The confusion that Syrena feels when confronted with her possible talent and merpeople connection, as well as Galen’s falling in love at first sight with Syrena, make for a delightful read.  As a bonus, the cover art tells the tale and will draw female readers.         

Mermaids and mermen, Fantasy                                --Lynn Fisher

Lucy (Daughters of the Sea)

Lasky, Kathryn    Lucy (Daughters of the Sea)    

Scholastic/Grolier/Childrens Press/Watts  2012  312p  $17.99      978-0-439-78312-5      VG     elm/ms      Fantasy    

The daughter of an Episcopal priest in New York, Lucy hates the society affairs that her mother pushes her into.  With the opportunity for the family to spend the summer in Bar Harbor, Maine, she hopes life will be different.  In Maine, Lucy meets and becomes infatuated by a local shipbuilder’s son, Phin.  To further complicate things, she has caught the eye of a penniless duke who is misled by Lucy’s mother into believing there are monetary connections in her family.  In addition, Lucy discovers why she has always felt "different".  Just as she is beginning to discover who she is and what she wants, the story is thrown a huge twist and it ends.

 
This story is the third in the Daughters of the Sea series.  However, it stands well on its own, except that the book ends without resolution.  It is unclear whether there will be a sequel.  As it stands, the ending is totally unsatisfactory, and readers will wish for a resolution.      

VG    Joan Theal        Mermaids, Fantasy

 

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