From Publishers Weekly
The creators of Cinder-Elly and Sleepless Beauty here perkily up-end "The Little Mermaid": "On top she was a human,/ In fact, was kind of dishy./ Underneath it all, though,/ You might find something fishy." While swimming, the Mer-Princess, aka Highness, spies a surfer and immediately falls in love. Distracted by her song, Burt falls off his board and she pulls him to shore. When Highness bemoans her inability to stay on dry land because of her fishtail, a sly troll appears and offers to trade her the tail for two feet. She and Burt have a grand time together until the princess becomes homesick and the troll refuses to return her tail. But clever Burt comes up with a solution. Quips and comments from fish ("Highness, maybe you should go to a plastic sturgeon," they warn when the troll makes his offer), seagulls and clams supplement the sometimes strained rhy-ming verse. Painted on a grainy, woodlike ground, Karas's mixed-media pictures take Los Angeles as backdrop; a scene of the Hollywood hills is especially festive. Light colors and bubbly patterns create a confetti-like effect, well suited to the frothiness of this frolicsome retelling. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
reSchool-Grade 2-This wacky story told in verse features a modern mermaid/princess: "On top she was a human,/In fact, was kind of dishy./Underneath it all, though,/You might find something fishy." While swimming one day, she spies Burt, a handsome surfer. When he wipes out on his board and falls into the drink, Highness rescues him and they immediately fall in love. She enlists the help of a shady, underworld Troll to trade her fishtail for two legs and feet. Although she has fun shopping for shoes and seeing the sights of Hollywood, she is homesick. The troll refuses to help: "`No refunds here,' said he." Then the forward-thinking princess realizes that others swim without a tail. Burt provides her with a scuba suit and swimming lessons, and she is no longer "a fish without my water." Minters's satiric, playful verse is best appreciated when read aloud. Karas's bright illustrations, in watercolor and cutouts, provide a humorous backdrop filled with beaches, fish-taco vendors, and animals that poke fun at fairy-tale conventions: after Burt and Highness fall in love at first sight, a seagull quips: "Wow! That was fast." A funny, tongue-in-cheek tale.
Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, CanadaCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
