We are going to the seaside for our holiday and the children are fascinated by mermaids. What are the best stories about mermaids?
Stories about mermaids seem to abound from all countries where there is a long shoreline.
The best-known certainly Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, not least because she is enshrined in her own stature in Copenhagen and, more recently, as one of Disney’s best-loved characters.
First published in Danish in 1837 and translated into English in 1872 the romantic and tragic story of The Little Mermaid has been told and retold in hundreds of different ways since its first publication.
It can be more or less sanitised but, in essence, it is a story about the great happiness and great pain brought about by the doomed love affair between the Little Mermaid and the Prince. It embodies the unbridgeable gap between merfolk and humans not least because the former live for 300 years and then cease to exist as they are turned into sea foam while the latter have souls that live forever.
Mermaids may bring heartbreak and they are rarely seen as sinister in children’ books, despite the love spells they may weave around humans.
In general, mermaids are a particularly attractive version of a half-human, half-animal creature, of the kind that have delighted the imagination of humans from as long ago as Greek mythology. With only a swishy fishy tail marking them out as different – and that often not immediately visible under the waves – they are closer to humans that most mythical creatures which makes it easy to see why playing with them looks so possible.
Most children love the idea that they could themselves “transform”. Thinking about doing so is a valuable way of thinking about your own characteristics and opportunities and testing them against those of others.
For early readers Russell Punter’s Stories of Mermaids is a collection of three stories illustrated by Desideria Guicciardini, each of which gives a cheery insight into the lives of mermaids – when they just being themselves and not engaging with humans. Here the young mermaids scheme to disrupt a Sea Horse race, travel to the Pirates’ Graveyard and simply enjoy dancing. These mermaids could be little girls anywhere the world over.
Taken from the famous ‘Red’, ‘Yellow’ and ‘Blue’ Fairy tale collections of Andrew Lang and others, Andrew Lang’s Mermaid Tales for Kids: Seven Magical Fairy Stories About Mermaids for Children is the best introduction to the classic stories about mermaids such as The Mermaid of Zennor, a Cornish tale of a mermaid enchantress, and The Mermaid of Druid Lake, a story which shows that mermaids can live in inland water as well as in the sea. Written in the early twentieth century, here the mermaid – or water nymph - tricks two men into taking her out of the pond and for a ride around the park.
In Gwyneth Rees’s Mermaid Magic, the first in a pleasing trilogy of mermaid stories, the young mermaid Rani lives on Tingle Reef, deeply hidden in the depths of the ocean. Rani looks different to the other mermaids – she doesn’t have long blond hair for a start – and she soon finds out that she’s different in other ways too. Rani can do magic and a sequence of delightfully different magical stories adventures follow.
The most famous contemporary mermaid is Liz Kessler’s charming half-mermaid Emily Windsnap, who has been delighting readers since she first appeared in The Tail of Emily Windsnap in 2003. Here and in the five subsequent titles Emily enjoys her human and her mermaid lif,e including her very special friendship with Shona Silkfin. The possibility of mermaids allows everyone to dream of something very special happening while they are on holiday by the sea.
Teenagers don’t need to forgo their love of mermaids. High recommended is Helen Dunmore’s wonderful The Ingo Chronicles, which is dead romantic. And just out this week is Laura Dockrill’s lovely watery tale Lorali, adding fuel to the rumour that Laura Dockrill might indeed actually be least part-mermaid herself.
Do you have favourite mermaid tales to share? Email childrens.books@theguardian.com or get in touch on Twitter @GdnchildrensBks (where you can also ask The Book Doctor a question using #BookDoctor) and we’ll add them to this blog!
Your suggestions
Amazed Earthling
My choice for the best read on the subject of mermaids is the Thora series by Gillian Johnson. I enjoyed Thora and the Incredible Crystals in which half mermaid Thora, along with her pet peacock and mermaid mother, are in Australia on a peacock kidnap adventure! There are several other titles in the Thora series and it is a different take on the mermaid theme aimed at 8-12 year old readers.
