MERMAID PICTURE BOOKS
"THe Mermaid and The Shoe" By K.G. Campbell
Each of King Neptune’s 50 mermaid daughters boasts a special talent, except for little Minnow, who seems to be good only at asking questions. When she finds a strange object, Minnow follows her questions to a wondrous place and finds answers, including the answer to the most important question of all: Who am I? The Horn Book Review calls Campbell's tale "nicely contained; though Minnow never actually leaves the ocean, we can see that a little imagination and a lot of inquisitiveness allow her to journey beyond her natural realm (and without having to give up either her fins or her voice; take that, Ariel!)."
"Mabel: A Mermaid Fable" BY rowboat weatkins
Mabel is a young mermaid who is mortified by her lack of a mustache. Everyone in her family has one even her sisters and baby brother but Mabel's upper lip is unbearably bare. Having grown tired of covering it with seashells and seaweed falsies, the mermaid takes to hiding in holes on the ocean floor. But one such hole also contains something with very large eyes. Happily, this turns out to be Lucky, a friendly, seven-armed octopus. Mabel and Lucky resurface together into a world awash in soft seafoam, salmon, and gold tones, where they help one another overcome their insecurities. ... [Watkins' book is] a treasure worth discovering. - Julia Smith Copyright 2020 Booklist
"THe Little Mermaid" Retold and Illustrated By Rachel Isadora
A little sea princess, longing to be human, trades her mermaid's tail for legs, hoping to win the love of a prince and earn an immortal soul for herself. A pared-down version of the classic tale by Hans Christian Andersen that is poignant and bittersweet, and beautifully illustrated in delicate, almost ethereal watercolor paintings. MERMAID PICTURE BOOKS
"Pearl" by Molly Idle
A tiny mermaid who yearns for grown-up work patiently completes a task that transforms her world. For her fable about patience and perseverance, Idle has created stunning watery spreads full of curves reflecting the gently scalloped edges of the giant clam that is Pearl's home. ... Her ocean has breaking waves, softly colored coral reefs, "towering forests of kelp," and a giant but never threateningoctopus. The tiny grain of sand Pearl's mother gives her to care for seems insignificant in comparison, but with time, careful nurturing, and polishing, it grows and glows, finally taking its place in the night sky to light up her world. The lyrical text perfectly matches these stunning illustrations. - Kirkus Reviews
"CORAL" By Molly Idle
In this companion to "Pearl," Idle tells the tale of three mermaids - Coral, who creates the reef; Filly, who looks after the fish in the reef; and Manta, who raises the sharks and rays that eat the reef fish, keeping it in balance. The three live in harmony, each doing their part to keep the reef healthy, until one day Coral finds an empty hollow in the reef and decides that she wants to be alone and keep it to herself. When her friends find her there, in a flash of anger, she banishes them from her empty spot on the reef. Amid a now colorless, lifeless reef, Coral realizes her mistake and she sets out to make it right. The colorful illustrations are reminiscent of an animated, kid-friendly short film and will appeal to young readers. - School Library Journal
The Mermaid by Jan Brett
In this dazzling remix, Brett ("Gingerbread Christmas") sets "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" under the sea. The bears turn into octopuses ... and Goldilocks becomes Kiniro, a mermaid with black hair and golden scales ("kin-iro" is Japanese for gold). A sweet twist at the outset imagines Otosan and Okosan (Japanese for father and mother) putting a new hat on Baby: "Baby did not like the floppy new hat. The hat was not happy, either." The hat is actually a ray, and although Kiniro ruins as many of the octopuses' possessions as Goldilocks does ("Someone has been crunching on my crustaceans"), she leaves Baby a much nicer piece of headwear. Brett's brightly colored, highly detailed art shines in this aquatic setting ... [her]fans will rejoice, and she'll make new ones, too. - School Library Journal MERMAID PICTURE BOOKS
"Julian is a Mermaid" by Jessica Love
On the subway with his abuela after swim class, Julián is enchanted by a group of stylish women in mermaid costumes on their way to a parade. Once home, Julián improvises a mermaid costume for himself out of curtains, a potted plant, and a vase of flowers. When Abuela sees the tiny havoc he wreaked in her living room, she doesn't scold him; rather, she embraces his enthusiasm, gives him the finishing touch for his costume, and takes him to the parade. Love's painted scenes glow against muted backgrounds, with saturated, opaque tones tracing the graceful shapes of the figures. ... The affectionate depiction of a broad range of body types and skin tones makes this particularly cheery. - Booklist
"Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet" By Jane o'Connor
Fancy Nancy and her best friend, Bree, couldn't be more excited about their upcoming dance show. After all, it's all about mermaids, and who knows how to be a fancy, glamorous mermaid better than Fancy Nancy herself? But when another ballerina wins the coveted role of the mermaid, Nancy is stuck playing a dreary, dull tree. Can Nancy bring fancy flair to her role, even though it isn't the one she wanted? And when disaster strikes right before the big ballet, who will step into the spotlight? Perfect for fans of the Eloise and Olivia books. [Publisher]
"Mermaid Dreams" By Kate Pugsley
Little Maya loves the beach, but her parents want to relax, so she is left to find a playmate or entertain herself. Too shy to say hi to the other kids having fun, Maya gets on her turtle floaty and closes her eyes. Next thing we know, brown-skinned, Afro-puffed Maya is "riding the waves on her turtle's back!" against a backdrop of multicolored clouds and pink sky. She and her turtle dive down to the ocean floor and discover "a secret underwater world!" There, Maya transforms into a blue-tailed mermaid. When she hears a voice calling a greeting, she swims after it. The voice is not coming from the large, yellow fish, the octopus, or the sea horses she finds. Finally, she finds another young mermaid, white, pigtailed, and yellow-finned, who says it's Maya's turn to hide, and they play. ... A cute and simple story about making friends. -Kirkus Reviews