THE SEA MONSTER

Aquatic adventures lead to unexpected friendships.

Readers return to Tidal Grove, an aquatic classroom for half-human, half-sea-creature students in this second installment of the Mermaid Days series. In this book, they’re reintroduced to characters such as Vera, a tan-skinned, brown-haired mermaid, and Beaker, a pale-skinned, dark-haired half-octopus whose legs have a mind of their own. The story, set across three chapters, follows Vera and Beaker as they discover how to be patient in a tide pool; discuss the Kraken, a fabled giant sea monster; and later make friends when the Kraken follows them to the library. The uneven story, full of bland dialogue, moves erratically, and the lessons are as shallow as the tide pool itself. The diversity of the characters’ skin tones and hair should be commended, but the illustrations are flat. Biology-minded readers will be quick to note that Mr. Burbles, the pale-skinned, blond-haired librarian, has frog legs, and amphibians make their homes in freshwater not the sea. Mermaid-obsessed readers will undoubtedly give this book a go but will be left unsatisfied.

Throw this one overboard.