The Mermaid's Shoes

by Sanne te Loo

Overview

On the last day of vacation, Mia finds something special on the beach—a mermaid's shoes!
 
When she puts them on her feet, she knows she has found her true identity. She's really a mermaid! She makes her own mermaid's tail and goes on a quest to find a place to fulfill her destiny. Is it the local aquarium? Maybe the river that runs through the town? In the end, this mermaid finds the perfect place to perch.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935954354
Publisher:	Ingram Pub Services
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Pages:	26
Product dimensions:	9.99(w) x 13.17(h) x 0.37(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

SANNE TE LOO (Waddinxveen, 1972) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Breda and since graduating as an illustrator and portrait painter. She lives in Utrecht with her artist husband and two children.

Editorial Reviews

…te Loo's double-spread paintings, in rich, soft tropical colors, have a timeless charm. Te Loo composes her pages with unusual perspectives, as Mia stands on an arched bridge to look way down into a river, or peers up through a glass ceiling at the looming figure of a shark. These heighten the drama of what is essentially a sweet, quiet story about a little girl with a great imagination.

The New York Times - Sarah Harrison Smith

01/27/2014
Just before the end of her seaside holiday, Mia finds a pair of swimming flippers: “Mermaid’s shoes!” she thinks. On the opposite page, te Loo paints Mia leaning glumly in the doorway of her city apartment, still wearing the flippers; she misses the ocean. With appealing enterprise, Mia makes a tail out of an old dress and sets off in search of a place where a mermaid can play. The large trim size allows te Loo plenty of space to celebrate the places Mia rejects: the zoo’s aquarium, with its resident shark; the city’s river, which looks “very deep”; and the natural history museum’s ghostly whale skeletons. The right spot turns out to be a public fountain. “And that’s how it began,” the next page reads, as a cell phone held by an unknown hand snaps a photo of mermaid Mia. The last pages feature painted “photos” of other mermaid children from around the world. Mia’s inventiveness is admirable, but te Loo’s sparkling, ambitious spreads seem to be reaching for something of more consequence than this relatively lightweight story. Ages 4–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

""Ping-Li takes up the challenge and frees himself, at the same time delivering a lesson in resourcefulness and creativity. The story is full of appeal for young children, who often feel the need to appease the wrath of powerful parents."" --Booklist

Ping-Li's Kite was included in the 2003 Best Children's Books of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education.
About Ping Li and His Kite:
""The colorfully detailed illustrations are alluring.""
-Horn Book Guide

From the Publisher

Mia, the heroine in this picture book, finds a pair of flippers on the last day of her beach vacation. She thinks they look like mermaid shoes and wears them everywhere. She even fashions a tail to go with them. But, away from the sea, where can she go to play out this identity? Mia visits the aquarium (too many sharks), considers the river (too deep), and investigates the Sea Hall at the museum (too dry), all without success. Finally, she discovers a large fountain with its sculpted fish and seahorses. Mia perches on the top of the fountain, finding it to be a good spot to fulfill her wish to be a mermaid. The book takes a twist when the concluding two-page spread includes an image of an adult’s hand which appears to be taking Mia’s picture and posting the photo to the internet. The final spread looks like a computer screen with a web address of the publisher in the search box, however an attempt to navigate to this address on a real computer, brought up an unrelated website with text in a foreign language. The images of children from other countries, in mermaid’s tails and shoes, suggest kinship with other children from around the world, but the idea that Mia’s photo goes viral, inviting far-flung imitators, is less appealing. Mia appears to be very young, perhaps kindergarten age, and the illustrations of her riding a bike all around the city by herself are not as compatible with American practices as they must be in this book’s country of origin. Supervising adults who read this book with children should be prepared to respond appropriately to questions about posting photos and personal information on the internet, as well as other issues of safety and supervision. Sanne te Loo’s watercolor illustrations are loose and broad, suggesting the watery environment of a mermaid’s world. The strength of this story is Mia’s rich imagination and her inventive quest for just the right spot to indulge her wish to be a mermaid. This aspect of the book recommends it to teachers and librarians in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. Reviewer: Hazel Buys; Ages 4 to 6.

Children's Literature - Hazel Buys

06/01/2014
PreS-Gr 1—On her last day at the seaside, Mia finds a pair of flippers abandoned on the beach. She decides that they are mermaid's feet and brings them home, wears them to bed, and dreams of the sea. She wears them to the playground but is told she cannot be a mermaid, as she has no tail. Mia makes one from her mother's old skirt, then goes off to find the sea. She goes to the zoo and finds the aquarium but is frightened by the sharks. She then goes to the river, which is too deep, and then to the museum, which is too dry. At last she finds a fountain and happily poses on top. The last sentence of the book reads, "And that's how it began," depicting someone taking the girl's picture with a tablet device, followed by two pages of children from around the world dressed as mermaids posted on a Facebook page. Mia appears to be very young, possibly preschool or kindergarten, and it is arguable whether a child that age could or should have her own Facebook page. The appropriate audience for the book is unlikely to fully grasp the significance of the social-media angle. The mixed-media illustrations are passable but not enough to save the floundering story line.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

School Library Journal

2014-02-19
Long after she's back home in the city, a little girl dreams of her vacation by the sea. On the last day of her vacation, Mia finds a pair of swim fins on the beach. She thinks they are "mermaid shoes" and is very excited that they fit. She takes them back home with her, where the rumble of traffic reminds her of the murmur of the sea. Mia wears her fins everywhere, but kids on the playground tell her that she can't be a mermaid without a tail. So Mia makes one out of one of her mother's skirts. Now where should she go? The sea is too far away, so Mia rides her bicycle to the zoo. She remembers a sea there. What she finds, behind the safety of glass, are sharks; no place for a mermaid. She tries the river—too deep and no big fish—and a museum, which has an impressive hall dedicated to the oceans. But it's too dry. Mia returns home, sadly. Suddenly, she hears a familiar gentle murmur and, when she follows it, feels drops of water on her face. It's her neighborhood fountain—and just where this little mermaid belongs. Te Loo's loving paean to childhood imagination is told with refreshing directness and complete respect for her heroine. The many panoramic illustrations have a dreamy, joyful vibe that is greatly enhanced by masterful use of color and perspective. Genuinely sweet. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews