There are lots of fishy puns that reminded me of a YA novel I read called Forgive My Fins. The puns worked better in this MG book due to the age of the characters.

The story gently deals with issues like fitting in, bullying, friendship and being kind. The fantasy setting is brilliant. A lot of thought has gone into the sort of classes a mermaid would have and the way their world operates.

It’s a sweet story and will likely appeal to young girls looking to read their first chapter books. It’s the first book in the series and I’m interested to read more.

Full review on www.allyaldridge.com (on 11/05/2020)

This is the first book in a new series about a mermaid school.

Marnie is nervous about starting at the Mermaid School. She has both her mother’s and her aunt’s reputations behind her. Her mother was a star student who always did her homework, but her aunt was a trouble maker. The teachers immediately judge her when she enters the school, and they assume she will be like her aunt when she gets in trouble on the first day. Marnie makes a few friends and an enemy right away. However, Marnie is a very nice mermaid, so she helped the mean girl, Orla, when her family was in trouble.

This story showed a side of starting school which isn’t told in stories often. I’ve seen and heard of children being compared to their older siblings or family members, just based on their relation to one another. That isn’t fair, because everyone is different, and often siblings are very different from one another.

There was an interesting piece of Marnie’s aunt’s past life revealed at the end, so I’m curious to see what happens in the next book!

Thank you Amulet Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a great time reading this book. We meet a girl as she prepares for her first day of school, and learn some things about her family. She is a bit scared at first, but seems to make friends right away. She also makes an enemy or two. Yet when someone needs her help , she is glad to do all she can to save them from a dangerous situation. Fans of mermaids will have a lot of fun reading this book.

I’ve been trying to get me stepdaughter into mermaids and this was a great start. Made her want to know more about mermaids and got her more into reading.