Aquamarine

From Publishers Weekly AQUAMARINE Alice Hoffman. Two best friends share a mysterious secret: a mermaid at the bottom of the pool. PW wrote, Hoffman creates an apt metaphor for that twilight time between childhood and adolescence when magic still seems possible and friendships run deep and true. Ages 10-14. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Review Teens enjoy many of Hoffmans adult novels, which often focus on young women. Her first book for middle-graders is about 12-year-old girls, Hailey and Claire, who have been neighbors and best friends forever. They dont want anything to change, but as the searing summer draws to a close, Claire has to move to Florida, and the bulldozers are closing in on the girls beloved hangout near the ocean. Then they find a beautiful mermaid, Aquamarine, huddled in the beach pool. They send her home to her ocean sisters, but first they help her find love and adventure with the handsome guy who works in the snack bar. Of course, in helping the stranger, the girls transform themselves and face the changes in their lives. Whats great here is Aquamarine. Shes is no romantic forsaken damsel: shes a rude, rebellious teenager, as needy as those who help her. In this small, spacious book, Hoffmans spare words reveal the magic and the gritty realism in daily life, somewhere between laughter and a wave breaking. Hazel Rochman, BooklistDespite the girls fear of change, everything shifts with a summer storm. At the beach club the next morning, Hailey and Claire find that the storm has left its mark, filling the cloudy waters of the swimming pool with jellyfish and seaweed. Hailey boldly dives in and discovers that the waves have also brought a delicate blue and white mermaid who is extremely grouchy at her predicament. The girls scheme to return the fish-woman to the sea, but she obstinately refuses to leave the vicinity of Raymond, the handsome boy who runs the gift shop. Alarmed at the mermaids growing weakness, Hailey and Claire extract her promise to go back to the sea in exchange for one evening with Raymond. They set up a blind date, dress her in a long blue dress to hide her tail, and take her to the rendezvous in a wheelchair. But the next morning the dying mermaid is in love, and the patio is full of partygoers. Can the girls sneak her past all those eyes to save her life? And will she let them? Young teens will be entranced by the strange dreaminess of this poignant little story about love and loss. — Amazon.com See all Editorial Reviews

• Fun And Eductional
• Great Childrens Book
• Girls – Ages 6-12

Classic childrens book. Help your child to discover the magic of reading.