Customer Reviews

Teenage Mermaid

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Gr 6 up

This light-hearted romance pokes fun at romance itself.

Spencer is surfing in the Pacific before school, when he falls off his surfboard, which then hits him on the head. Is he drowning? He's drowning! But he doesn't even have his drivers license yet! A beautiful young swimmer saves his life, kisses him, and disappears. He wonders if she was a dream, a lifeguard, or a mermaid. He has fallen in love. He has survived with her silver locket held tightly in his fist, so he knows she was real.

Lilly is desperate to retrieve the locket, a family heirloom, before her mother finds out she took it. She is also falling in love with him, and yes, she is a mermaid.

Their problem is that one of them lives on land and the other in water. They take turns telling their side of a fast-moving, perfectly executed story. Amusing dialog (a few swear words add to the realism) and short, snappy, easy-to-read sentences lead with growing suspense to a surprise ending.

Spencer and Lilly are lightly sketched: the plot and characters are an airy scaffold for their evolving feelings. Their world as they tell it has very few adults, and school is definitely an impediment to real life.

This book is going to fly from one reader to another. Girls from grade six up will inhale it, especially if you put a romance label on the spine. Try it with boys who ask for funny books, and count it as a gift for reluctant and poor readers. Readers who enjoy this may also enjoy Fifteen Love, another recent romantic boy/girl duet, with a less airy and more serious approach.

This is a review I did for professional reasons, and as you can tell, I am a school librarian. This is a fun book for you to enjoy.

Spencer almost drowns in a surfing accident when a sparkling, golden girl saves him with a kiss of life before she suddenly disappears. Where did this dream girl come from, and will she return?

Lilly rescues a boy from drowning and dangerously steps out of her own watery world. Curious to explore this forbidden land, she's gotta find her handsome Earthdude.

A silver heart locket is their only clue.

Ellen Schreiber revamps a classic favorite with a funky magical romance that shows what transpires when boy meets girl, but discovers girl is really a...teenage mermaid.

I first read this novel at around the same time I read Sirena (about four years ago), and I recently purchased it through Amazon.com. It's getting difficult to find in decent condition at a low price, so it's better just to buy it used.

Teenage Mermaid is the story of fifteen-year-old Spencer Stone. While surfing early one morning, he almost drowns but is rescued (and kissed) by a "sparkling, golden girl." In the struggle he pulls a heart-shaped locket off her neck, and it crosses his mind that he might have been saved by a...mermaid.

Waterlilly, or "Lilly," for short, lives in the underwater community of Pacific Reefs. Unlike the other merpeople, Lilly is bored with life under the sea. When she loses her family heirloom, the heart necklace, she must convince her mermaid best friend Waverly to help her become human and go ashore to get it - as well as meet the boy she rescued.

I gave this book 4 out of 5. This novel was a humorous, modern-day twist on The Little Mermaid, and it's a fairly short read at only 160 pages. While the romance isn't very realistic (for example, Spencer grows obsessed with Lilly and believes he's truly in love with her even though the period of the novel takes place over two days), it was still a fast, lighthearted read that ends with a magical twist only a true fairy tale could ever pull off.

i loved this book but it went to fast.i think if this book was longer and things went slower and there was a sequal,it would be great summer read. its hard to find a good book and this book is really good.

This is one of those books that I just stumbled upon at my local library. Schreiber is an author that I have been meaning to read, but with my TBR pile at least a mile long, her books have a bad tendency to get constantly pushed back in the pile. However, I was feeling I was in the mood for a fairy tale so I finally decided to give this book a try.

Teenage Mermaid is pretty much what I thought it would be. The plot focuses on Waterlilly (the mermaid) and Spencer (the Earthee) who happen to meet while Spencer is in the middle of drowning. Of course, she saves his life and disappears only moments later. He pines for her, she pines for him... I am pretty sure that you know The Little Mermaid plot

What I liked:

It was a quick read at only 150 pages. Generally, I like her writing style and the new twist she put on the tale. It was a bit refreshing (and funny) to see the characters act like valley girls and boys. Also thanks to the book, I now have tons of funny little quotes-- my favorite is: "I would have even kissed Arnold Schwarzenegger in a blue bikini" (p.37). I feel like Schreiber set out to have fun with this book, and she definately suceeded.

What I did not like:

Although I liked a lot about this book, it is not without its problems. Many of the characters were overly stereotyped and sometimes annoyed me. I liked the main characters, but almost all of the secondary characters could have disappeared and I would not have cared-- I just do not think they added much to the story. For example, one character I really did not care for was Robin. She is a friend of Spencer's who is depicted as different by always wearing dark baggy clothes and being an outcast. She is also in love with Spencer and continuously throwing herself at him. What bothered me the most about her character is that she undergoes an ugly duckling type transformation, but Screiber never explains why. I mean one scene she is normal Robin, then she is "total babe" Robin. It just did not make any sense. My other grip is the necklace. It is basically what bring Lilly and Spencer together. Schreiber hints at it being magical or have magical powers, but it is not really explored. I would start to think Schreiber was going to further explain the necklace, but then she would go off in a different direction.

Overall, it was a good read with some issues. If you like fairy tale retellings, you should like the book since is a fun and offers an interesting twist. I would have liked this book to have more substance to it, but I am not heartbroken that it did not.

This book is a quick, light-hearted read for tweens and junior high girls. It lacks the depth of wit and character development of Schreiber's Vampire Kisses series, but it still is a sweet little story.

This book ROCKS!!!!!I read it twice in one day and I even did a school report on it.I want to contact Ms.Schreiber and tell her to write a second one!ANYONE who loves mermaids as much as me and is a total romantic will TOTALLY LOVE her book!!!
-Liney Girl

A mermaid becomes helplessly attracted to a land boy who returns her feelings greatly she finds a way to meet with him on land but soon they both have to make a choice.... Lily makes her's without hesitation and Spencer's love over rules his mind. AAAAwwww what a capturing love story.

P.S. Not as good as Twilight though!

This book is about a guy-Spencer- who almost drowns, But is saved buy a girl who giver her a kiss in the water,Only he blank's out. He think's it's dream but,when he wake's up he has her necklace. She goes to someonr to make her have legs, but only for a few hour's. When she goes to lans she meet's another boy-Calvan-who help's her find him. I would like to say more but it you'ld give away most of the story. It was pretty good BUT I read Vampire Kisses- Let's just say to vampire kisses it was not very good.

You should read this book! It is the best book ever! It is like a twist on the classic fairytale The Little Mermaid! It is for everyone who wants a teenage romance story! I thing it is best for ages 9 and up!