ANNIE LUMSDEN, THE GIRL FROM THE SEA

Rather like the seashell her mother picks up that is “as ordinary as any seashell, as beautiful as any seashell,” the precious mystery that is Annie Lumsden is not apparent to all.

Thirteen-year-old Annie lives with her mum in a small house beside the sea in a beautiful location in the northeast of England. Classmates ridiculed her difficulties at school, and now she suffers inexplicable seizures. Annie and her single mother, who sings sea shanties in the pub and sells handcrafted art made of shells and rocks, glory in the spinning of tales and in connections between their beloved home and far-flung times and places. One day, Annie asks Mum to explain how she came to be; the ensuing tale weaves together the mysteries of the watery world that Annie, whose hair “drifts like seaweed” when she swims and whose “thoughts dart and dance inside like little minnows in the shallows,” loves so dearly. It involves a mysterious man from a seaweed forest, rather like a selkie, who had “skin smooth and bright like sealskin,” spoke with a “liquid voice,” and is her true father. This short, captivating story is enhanced with watercolor-and–colored-pencil illustrations in natural tones; the illustrations’ impressionistic style perfectly mirrors the text’s blurring of the lines between the magical and the everyday. This gentle tale reminds readers of the power of stories to remake our humdrum worlds into something wondrous. Main characters present White.

Enchanting.