Illustrated by James Mayhew
5 stars
A richly illustrated fairy tale of the love shared between a merman and a human.
While marketed as an “update to The Little Mermaid story”, that doesn’t feel quite right. A merperson falls in love with a human and his father thinks humans are too dangerous. That’s where the similarities end. That’s not a bad thing but I feel like kids may be disappointed with the comparison because it’s what they would expect. I enjoyed it more thinking of it as its own fairy tale rather than a retelling.
The story itself is very sweet. I like that Nen and Ernest actually get to know each other. Nen falls in love with Ernest after witnessing his kind actions.
The narration is soothing and poetic.
Goregous illustrations. The changes in orientation of the text are really fun and nicely showcase the depths of the ocean. And I absolutely love that the boat is named for Mayhew’s husband.
A beautiful story of queer joy and love with stunning visuals and lyrical narration.