Mermaids in the Backyard

by Catherine Hapka, Patricia Castelao (Illustrator)

Overview

   Lindy doesn't want to move to the bug house. That's what she calls her family's new beachfront house on stilts. She misses her best friend and her life back in Chicago. But her feelings change during a storm when Lindy hears a cry for help
 . . . from a mermaid! Are there really mermaids in Lindy's backyard? And if so, what can one clumsy girl do to help them?

   Fans of Hamster Magic and The Very Little Princess books will love this heartfelt and accessible Stepping Stones fantasy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307976383
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	06/25/2013
Series:	A Stepping Stone Book: A Stepping Stone Book Fantasy
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
Lexile:	530L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

CATHERINE HAPKA has written more than 150 books for children and young adults, including two books in the Horse Diaries series. She is also the coauthor of the Step into Reading books How Not to Babysit Your Brother and How Not to Start Third Grade. She lives on a small farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which she shares with a horse, three goats, a small flock of chickens, and too many cats.

Editorial Reviews

A girl forges friendships with the mermaids in the ocean behind her house. Lindy Michaels misses her best friend, her bedroom and everything else she left behind in Chicago when her parents moved their family to a South Carolina coastal island. Lindy's no fan of the ocean or of her new neighbor, a stereotypically "[l]oud, messy, and annoying" boy named Matthew. Lindy isn't willing to give Little Hermit's Island a chance until a storm strands mermaid Sealily and her pet sea horse Finneus in a tide pool. Quick-thinking Lindy saves Sealily and Finneus and strikes up a friendship with them. When the weather clears, they entreat Lindy to come swim, offering up sea sponges that will enable her to breathe underwater, but frightened Lindy declines. Later, Matthew captures Finneus, and, knowing Sealily and her family must be distraught, Lindy trades away her most valued possession for the creature. While returning Finneus to the ocean, Lindy is pulled out to sea by a riptide. The grateful mermaids come to her aid in turn. They help her to the shore and break her of her fear of the water in a rather cheesy lesson that emphasizes giving things a chance. The illustrations rely on hair color and fins to help readers tell characters apart, but facial expressions are great and settings inviting. A middling chapter book for mermaid lovers who don't want big conflicts. (Fantasy. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews