Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreux

Overview from Barnes and Noble

Freak of nature takes on a whole new meaning...

If she hadn't been so clueless, she might have seen it coming. But really, who expects to get into a relaxing bathtub after a stressful day of shopping for tankinis and come out with scales and a tail?

Most. Embarrassing. Moment. Ever.

Jade soon discovers she inherited her mermaid tendencies from her mom. But if Mom was a mermaid, how did she drown?

Jade is determined to find out. So how does a plus-size, aqua-phobic mer-girl go about doing that exactly? And how will Jade ever be able to explain her secret to her best friend, Cori, and to her crush, Luke?

This summer is about to get a lot more interesting...

 

My thoughts:

I was browsing through the ebooks available through our public library and decided to look for mermaid books. Not sure why, none of my other searches were getting me anywhere.  I found some books I want to read, but they were checked out so I added myself to the waiting list for them, then found this one.  The title sounded fun so I checked it out. 

 

I enjoyed the lightness of this book and the fun way mermaids were introduced.  Being in middle school is a tough time for a lot of early teenagers and tweens, your body is changing, people start dating, friendships change and hormones are playing all sorts of havoc.  Jade is self conscious of her larger than average body, still having a hard time dealing with her mothers death by drowning a year before, struggling with a new friend who is coming between her and her best friend and surprised by the reappearance of a boy she thinks started a mean nickname about her.  The last thing she needs is another complication, but she gets it when she gets into the tub, falls asleep, and wakes up with a tail!  After finding out her mother was a mermaid new questions arise, such as how her mother could have drowned if she is or was a mermaid.  Jade wants to tell Cori, her best friend all about it, but her father cautions her about it.  How hard would this be for someone else to believe and what might happen to her if scientists were to find out that she could transform into a mermaid.

 

This was a fun, easy read.  I highly recommend people who love to read taking the time to find out if their local library offers either digital audio or ebooks to read.  I think if more people took advantage of them library systems might expand their catalogues even more which is good for all of us.  Plus, being able to search for and immediately check out a book from home is so convenient and easy.

 

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781402244124
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
• Publication date: 12/1/2010
• Pages: 224
• Sales rank: 117,528
• Age range: 10 - 13 Years