Can You Catch a Mermaid?

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Read it again mummy! - Rated
My daughter who is nearly two loves this book being read to her and is fascinated by mermaids now! I like the fact that it has some depth (no pun intended) to the story and deals with separation from parents and home plus shyness and making friends, albeit with a happy ending. As a parent it is refreshing to read something with some bite rather than stuff about purple dinosaurs. If I had to criticise, I'd say that it needs a little more story development and to show the mermaid being reunited with her family. Don't let that put you off - we love it!

Beautifully illustrated - Rated
As pointed out by one of the earlier reviewers, my daughter (5) immediately noticed the glitter on the cover in the bookshop, read the title and decided that her search for a book to take home was over!

This is a beautifully illustrated book with the pictures conveying the mood of each page in an enchanting, almost haunting way. However I do think that in a book this long the story could be developed a little further. My daughter could not have read it herself and in stories I am reading to her she is able to absorb a little more development in the characters.

If your children liked this book they would find "Laura's Star" equally spellbinding, and get the same warm feeling as they drift into a night's sleep.

Good, but not a classic.

Can you Catch a Mermaid? A tale to remember - Rated
The book is beautifully told and illustrated, complete with glitter on the cover to catch the eye of young children. Particularly suitable for girls, this book captures the imagination and draws you in to the story using simple yet effective language. It also touches upon many subjects in an unobtrusive manner such as single parent families and choosing between right and wrong. Jane Ray has managed to capture magic and place it between the leaves of the book, unravelling in the mermaid's hair blowing in the breeze and the vivid descriptions provided. The layout of the book varies from page to page, which makes it exciting to read, the text speaking to you differently on different pages, for example, during the terrible storms that are described, the writing swirls about the page, up and down, in much the same way that the sea would being bashed against the harbour walls. The narrator's thoughts and the speech of the mermaid are in italics, which makes it easy for the children to distinguish between who is talking and also adds a sense of mystery to the words.

Beautiful book - Rated
A lovely book, enjoyed by both myself and my daughter (5), gorgeous, detailed pictures. A must for all mermaid lovers.

a beautiful tale of a young girl's attachment to a mermaid - Rated
Like all four-year-olds, I guess, my daughter has a thing about Mermaids, but I found this story to be more touching, more beautifully illustrated that the other mermaid tale which she is most familiar with - notably The Little Mermaid (both Disney and otherwise).

It tells the story of a little girl who befriends a strange young girl who she meets on the beach, while her father is out in his fishing boat. When she discovers that this stranger is actually a mermaid, she is reluctant to let her return to the sea and prevents her from doing so (without wishing to give the entire game away).

It is a rather chilling tale, with more than a hint of ghostliness to it, but which captures all young girls' obsessions with the idea of being a mermaid.