Mermaids can still make a splash in children's literature.
Being brought up in a seaside town meant I often stood on the beach, looking beyond the waves and imagining another world beneath the sea.
It wasn't hard to feel there must be a secret world of shell-studded caves and watery underwater castles. Mermaids fitted right into those daydreams. A beautiful creature with a shimmering tail may have been looking right back at me or peeping shyly from a colourful rock pool.
So seeing the attraction in children's books was an easy step. Mermaids are magical beings - part human, part otherworldly.
Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid was a favourite childhood book.
This mermaid longs so much for the human world that she gives up her voice to enter it. It's a darker story than the Disney version and involves sacrifice and a spiritual ending.
Jan Brett's The Mermaid is a familiar fairy tale with an underwater twist.
It's a kind take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with the mermaid, Kiniro, exploring a house belonging to three octopuses. It's a playful, mischievous mermaid this time. A very different character.
For younger readers there's KG Campbell's The Mermaid and the Shoe.
Minnow feels less worthy than her sisters, but when she finds an odd object - a shoe - her curiosity takes her off on an adventure.
I think for ages 9-12 mermaid stories work particularly well. They can have a little danger swimming beneath to add to the excitement.
An elusive figure glimpsed beyond the waves can create a delicious shiver. Maybe not a good idea to follow that beautiful singing into the ocean, though.
Intriguing!
ReplyDeleteI too appreciate the curiosity of the mermaids as the human world encounters them and they are changed by it - especially in The mermaid and the shoe.
ReplyDeleteAnd the connection with living and staying in a seaside town.
I find the merpeople very close to the ocean - and then I think of the Sirens.
[which is why it is so powerful when the Little Mermaid - in Andersen and in Disney - loses her voice].