(1) YA A funny and fast-paced feminist adventure masterfully told through the comics medium. This alternate-Victorian-era fantasy opens after Jane's parents' death. Since women can't own property, the family estate and fortune will pass to Jane's odious male cousin -- who gives her a week to pack her bags and leave. Unless she can secure a dowry via marriage, she will be penniless as well as homeless. Jane, along with everyone in her seaside village, buys into the dominant and oppressive standards of beauty; she's realistic about the fact that her appearance leaves her with few marriage prospects. While she may be considered plain, Jane is exceedingly clever: she proposes marriage to Peter, a gorgeous fisherman forced into the trade by his toxic father. "We both have problems, and this would solve them." But those plans are thwarted after Peter is kidnapped by a man-eating mermaid, and Jane embarks on an epic undersea journey to rescue him. Along the way, she meets folkloric creatures (selkies, crones, a water demon, etc.) and gains knowledge and the confidence to challenge societal norms. Brosgol's (Be Prepared, rev. 5/18; Anya's Ghost, rev. 7/11) magical story is full of quirky and indelible characters; smart surprises and plot twists; and laugh-out-loud dialogue. Stellar world-building and cinematic cartooning effectively pace the narrative, building suspense and emphasizing moments of horror. Textured colorwork adds further depth to plot and setting, and an author's note invites readers to interrogate the worlds (both real and fictional) with which they come into contact.

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 Translated by Lourdes Heuer. Courageous and resilient ten-year-old Sofia is taken to live with her grandmother in Bahia, by the sea. Over the ensuing weeks and months, she struggles to make sense of why her mother chose her creepy and potentially abusive boyfriend over her. Sofia does have a special connection with the sea, however, and is eager to spend time experiencing its sights, sounds, and smells, as she sees herself as a mermaid. In truth, Sofia uses her imagination to make sense of confusing relationships with people around her and to cope with loss. This sensitive and compelling story creates a mystical world in which a young girl who feels alone eventually finds peace by paying attention to her feelings and discovering a way to communicate them. Several topics related to trauma are explored, including domestic abuse, loss, and anxiety (reflected in the protagonist thinking she has crabs of different colors in her stomach that convey different feelings). Palacio Obón uses a vivid and fast-paced narrative to make Sofia's experiences realistic and relatable to readers, while highlighting important cultural connections to the powerful role of the sea in many Latin cultures.

Reviewer: Nicholas A. Brown | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) 4-6 After her mother dies in a tragic accident, twelve-year-old Kela Boxhill becomes a shell of her former self. She pushes away her father, her best friend, and her vibrant Caribbean community of St. Rita. She neglects her artistic ambitions because her creative activities remind her of the storyteller mother she's lost. One day, while searching for sea glass on the beach, Kela finds a magical comb belonging to the mermaid Ophidia. Desperate to retrieve the comb because its magical power keeps her young, Ophidia offers Kela a wish. But magic always comes at a price. Kela's wish to bring her mother back has unexpected consequences, and well-meaning adults prevent her from immediately returning the comb as promised, which incites the mermaid's wrath. As the island faces potential devastation from a hurricane caused by Ophidia's rage, Kela must figure out how to appease the vengeful mermaid while also protecting her loved ones, her community, and herself. The story is imbued with magic, but Stringfellow's powerful writing makes the fantastical feel like reality. Through narrative perspectives centering both Kela and Ophidia, the author recalls the call-and-response structure prevalent in Black storytelling traditions. Fans of Baptiste's The Jumbies and Rhodes's Bayou Magic will enjoy spending time with Kela as she navigates a journey filled with grief, love, loss, and discovery.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) YA Simidele is a Mami Wata, a mermaid who gathers the souls of the dead to be blessed by the Yoruba deity Yemoja. When Kola, a young man not yet dead, is thrown from a passing slave ship, she refuses to let him drown and carries him to a nearby island. But by interfering, Simi risks bringing punishment down on all the Mami Wata and on Yemoja herself. Simi sets out, with Kola's help, to find two rings that can summon the Creator so she can beg for mercy. Bowen combines a classic quest plot with a rich and still-underrepresented mythology (see also Adeyemi's [cf2Children of Blood and Bone, rev. 5/18), complicating the stakes with every plot twist. Creatures who assist or oppose Simi and Kola, as well as the ever-present grief of the slave trade (specifically the start of Portuguese slave trading in the mid-1400s, per an author's note), also serve to build out the unearthly tale's West African basis. As Simi and Kola travel together, the attraction between them grows, but Simi's knowledge that acting on her feelings will turn her into sea foam makes for a slow-burn (if occasionally repetitious) romantic arc that enhances this ­inventive supernatural fantasy.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) PS Idle returns to the world under the sea in this follow-up to Pearl (rev. 9/18). Mermaids Coral, Filly, and Manta live together harmoniously, each with her own responsibilities to their shared ocean home. Filly tends the little fish; Manta, the fishes' shark and ray predators ("keeping the reef in balance"). And Coral's role is as creator of the reef itself--which, perhaps understandably, gives her something of a goddess complex. Having found a nice, quiet, unexplored hollow in the reef, Coral wants to keep it to herself. She turns testy and territorial. "But there's room enough for all of us," Filly reasons. "We make our home here too," says Manta. Coral's uncalled-for response: "I make the reef...all you make is a mess!" Of course she drives her friends away; of course she feels bad and makes amends; of course the story ends happily. But the tale's deliberate pacing allows time for each emotional beat to land--and gives viewers ample opportunity to revel in the sun-dappled, pastel-hued undersea world. The curling, swirling mermaids' bodies suggest grace and motion, with color-coding and hints of detail (e.g., Filly looks something like a seahorse; Manta, a manta ray) to indicate personality and vocation. Though the primary lessons learned are about friendship, sharing, selflessness, and communal living, Coral's actions are at least somewhat relatable--who doesn't want a little space to herself?

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2020

(2) PS Pinkney brings readers Black mermaids and a richly imagined undersea world in this addition to his picture-book takes on classic tales (most recently The Three Billy Goats Gruff, 2017). Most of Hans Christian Andersen's original elements remain--a Sea King in a merfolk kingdom; the titular mermaid princess with a "majestic" voice, who longs to walk on land; and a sinister Sea Witch, looking for revenge. Pinkney's most significant change is that he replaces the romance in the original tale with a friendship. Melody, the little mermaid of the story, visits the Sea Witch to swap her voice for legs so that she can spend time with Zion, her new friend on land, who tells her she shouldn't have given up her voice "for anything." When Melody learns that the Sea Witch is endangering her family, she swims back and saves them. Pinkney gives the protagonist more autonomy and less punishment than in the original; in a closing author's note he explains such choices. Pinkney's lush, iridescent illustrations are breathtaking. His beautifully colored, primarily blue undersea world is juxtaposed with the earth-toned, sand-covered world above and its "fiery ball" in the sky. The Sea Witch--who has fingered tentacles, horns, and sharp, terrifying teeth--is particularly menacing and is always surrounded by ghoulish sea-creature sidekicks. A spirited and elegant revisioning.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(4) K-3 A girl is fishing in the ocean with her frog buddy when they spot their reflections in the water. They make faces at their reflections, which mimic their every move--until their likenesses transform into a mermaid and her own frog. Soon all four are enjoying an underwater splash together. Although that's all there is story-wise to this wordless book, the summery, swirling art is divine.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) YA Windy City Magic series. With a fantastic best friend, boyfriend, and culinary career all lined up, Amber Sand (The Best Kind of Magic) ought to be happy. Too bad her matchmaking magic keeps causing problems: she struggles to help a siren and a mermaid whose cross-species love seems doomed, and visions of her boyfriend's betrayal upset her even more. Amber's witty voice keeps the modern-day fantasy lively as it explores love's unpredictability.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jared Lee. Colandro combines cumulative-rhyme silliness with slight undersea-creature facts in an entertaining if sometimes confusing easy reader; an appended spread provides more scientific detail ("Sharks can go through up to 30,000 teeth in their lifetime!" "Sea stars do not have a brain or blood"). Busily textured illustrations show a bespectacled, pink-skinned mermaid-of-a-certain-age eagerly swallowing the various creatures.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 1-3 Wild Fairies series. Illustrated by Renée Kurilla. In these series-starters about a group of woodland fairies, Daisy plans a party and learns that things don't need to be perfect to be fun, and pond-dwelling Lily feels left out until her friends find a way to include her in their land-based adventures. Abundantly illustrated with whimsical cartoon art, each appealing if precious chapter book offers thoughtful lessons about friendship. Back matter includes character profiles and activities. Review covers these Wild Fairies titles: Daisy's Decorating Dilemma and Lily's Water Woes.

Reviewer: Mariko Turk

(3) 4-6 Secrets of Topsea series. Illustrated by Rachel Sanson. When Davy moves to Topsea with his mother, he's not prepared for a locker at the bottom of a swimming pool, seaweed for lunch, and an abundance of cats (yet dogs are "just a myth"). What first seems like pure nonsense evolves into a story of friendship, adjustment, and loss, told in multiple voices and sprinkled with memorable encounters with, for example, a haunted pinball machine and a chewing gum wall.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(2) PS When young mermaid Pearl's mother entrusts her with protecting a single grain of sand, Pearl is frustrated by the seeming unimportance of her responsibility. A luminous sequence of illustrations reveals what makes this grain special, leading the story--a stylish original pourquoi tale--to its satisfying conclusion. Idle's color palette has a stunning depth and gradation of undersea hues--all rendered in sharp and clear colored pencil.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(1) K-3 After seeing three magnificent-looking people dressed as mermaids, Julián creates a makeshift mermaid outfit. Abuela discovers her grandson's attire; how will she react? She helps Julián complete the outfit, then proudly takes him to a festive sea-creature-attire parade. Small but important details add depth to Julián's emotional journey. Vibrant watercolors with gouache and ink create lively scenes that splash and swirl on the page.

Reviewer: Minh Lê | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Jason Cockcroft. Mermaids Beattie and twins Zelda and Mimi are called to stop bad mermaids who have fishnapped the mermaid queen, Arabella Cod, and taken over the Hidden Lagoon. With the help of the Lagoon's eccentric residents, the trio won't stop until they've saved the kingdom. This cheeky under-the-sea mystery is bursting with inventive language; a creative, fully imagined world; and lively black-and-white illustrations.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Cambria Evans. In this follow up to Part-Time Princess, Underwood's narrator waits until bedtime to transform into a mermaid and travel down a moonlit waterslide to her underwater palace. Amid a whimsical, imaginative story is an emphasis on the girl's power and independence ("Mermaids are strong"). A palette infused with aqua and purple brings the undersea world to life.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julianna Swaney. All goes swimmingly for narrator Molly at her first day of Mermaid School. The teacher, Miss Marina, leads her multicultural fish-tailed students (both female and male) through familiar-with-a-twist activities, from storytime ("of boys and girls who have no tails") to singing the "A-B-Seas." Soft, aquatic-hued illustrations suit the reassuring rhyming verse. Tips in the appended "Mermaid School Handbook" could help land-dwelling new students, too.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Drawing on a trip to Okinawa, Japan, and an encounter with the New England Aquarium's famous octopus, Brett recasts "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" with a mermaid named Kiniro and three Pacific octopuses. The retelling is faithful, with just a few changes and the addition of a puffer-fish sidekick, but the lavish illustrations are pure Brett, playing extravagantly with undersea and Okinawan motifs.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) YA The conflict between humans and intelligent sea creatures called Alphas reaches its climax in this trilogy-closer (Undertow; Raging Sea). Half-mermaid Lyric, now an accused terrorist, tries to exonerate herself in the human world while preparing to defend it from a new monster threat. Lyric is a determined, compelling heroine, but the book sometimes gets lost in its own mythology as its world expands.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) 1-3 Translated by Oliver Latsch. Eight-year-old mer-kids Lilly and Fin go exploring outside their underwater city, not realizing humans Mr. and Mrs. Snorkel are lurking in the shadows to capture them. A friendly kraken helps the kids escape and then put an end to the Snorkels' nefarious plan. Finely detailed illustrations by the author, along with an appended game board and a picture hunt throughout, round out this enchanting adventure.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(4) 4-6 Dark Waters series. African American girl India Finch is just an ordinary preteen until, on a visit to her grandfather's in coastal Maine, she learns she's half-mermaid and can heal creatures of the sea. Each by-the-numbers but engaging hi-lo novel involves India helping save the mer while Gilbert spells out themes of friendship, working together, and accepting differences. Slick illustrations appear occasionally; discussion questions and writing prompts are appended. Glos. Review covers these Dark Waters titles: Fire and Ice and The Sighting.

Reviewer: Jenn Matters