This book was quite beautiful and contemplative, but it moved too slowly for me personally. I'm sure for many others it will be one of their favorite comics, but for me it felt like it took too long for anything to happen. Still a lovely read though.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this title

This story broke my heart. I loved it and felt myself fully transported into the story. It made me feel the way that Ghibli films make me feel. Although I don't know if it would be a good fit for the library patrons I have I personally will be buying a copy of the book

A beautiful and tender story about growing up and moving forward. The illustrations are gorgeous and complement the style of story perfectly.

Full review for School Library Journal.

This simplistically drawn middle grade graphic novel is powerful and emotional. With relatively few words and lines, Komori tackles difficult topics like grief, abandonment, and acceptance.

Read more graphic novel reviews at www.graphiclibrary.org

A really sweet slice of life tale inflected with magical realism. The art is the perfect soft accompaniment to the story.

This graphic memoir that takes us through Sarah's inability to fit in, the racist bullying and remarks she faced, and the rage that all of this brings. But it also shows hope. And as a avid artist, which she explores in the graphic novel as well, the artwork is superb.

A very slow paced story of a girl who moves to a seaside community with her father after her mother leaves the family. There's a dash of surrealism here as the town has a cultural history of mermaids and sea gods that get intermixed with the main character's personal history. If you want a bit more movement in your manga, this one isn't for you, but if you want a chill, low stakes story with a bit of depth and family dynamics, you might like this title.

A gentle story with some heavy themes. Mermaid Scales is a manga about a sixth-grade girl who moves from Tokyo to a small seaside town with her father after her mother leaves the family. While adjusting to her new life and trying to make friends, Toki feels drawn to the beach where, at four years old, she nearly drowned and was rescued by a merman. A merman with a strange resemblance to one of her new friends, who insists that merfolk don't really exist. But then what is the truth behind the town's annual sea god festival and the secrets the adults are hiding?

This felt like a contemporary-with-a-fantastical-twist middle grade novel in manga form, with a focus on friendship and growing up. The small-town vibes were immaculate, and there was a palpable mysteriousness regarding the town's lore and Toki's memories. Lovely art. Altogether a sweet read.

TW: past death of a brother, implied parent infidelity, divorce, mention of past tsunami and related deaths, drowning

This was so cute!! I really enjoyed the story of Yokio and her school friends. They were all really well written and it actually felt like I was reading about children. Sometimes when I read a manga about kids it feels like the author has never met a child and doesn't understand what they're like at all. While parts of this were sad, most of it was wholesome and sweet. A great read if you are looking for a adorable slice of life manga.

Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand is an omnibus release of the two volumes that were released in Japan.

Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand
Written by: Yoko Komori
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: February 21, 2023

The main character of the story is a sixth grade girl named Tokiko Aoyama. She and her father are moving from Tokyo to a village by the sea to live with her maternal grandmother after Tokiko’s mother left her father. The last time Tokiko had visited the village, she was four years old. At that time, she almost drowned in the sea, but she swears she was recused by a merman. After arriving at the village, she goes to the sea in the hopes of finding the merman to thank him.

When she starts at her new school, Tokiko has to work at making friends with her classmates, in addition to dealing with the stress of moving to a new location and the separation of her parents. Since it’s a small village, the kids in her class have grown up with each other and aren’t used to kids moving there from Tokyo, which makes things a little awkward at first. One of her classmates is a boy named Yosuke Narumi, who had seen her at the beach the previous day. He’s a serious boy who also has an interest in the sea, but for a different reason that’s revealed later in the story.

In addition to dealing with some of the typical pre-teen drama, Tokiko and her new classmates start becoming curious about a tunnel that they’ve been told is haunted and that they’re not supposed to go in. They get curious and try to go through it at one point, but they’re scared off by strange noises. The reader quickly learns after this that the adults in the village are hiding something from the children of the village, and that the secret they’re hiding is connected to the haunted tunnel.

The story reaches its climax during the Wadatsumi Festival, which is a festival held in the village each year to show appreciation for the spirit of the sea. During this section, Tokiko and Yosuke stumble upon the secret that the adults have been hiding, and it ties in with the reasons why both Tokiko and Yosuke are looking at the sea.

When I saw that Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand was 400 pages long, I was a little concerned about how long it would take to read. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that for a manga this length, it went relatively quickly. The fact that the main characters are pre-teens probably helped with that, since these characters are not at an age where they’re going to be giving long speeches or anything like that. While this story combines slice of life with a mystery and potential supernatural elements, it still feels grounded in reality and authentic. As I read this manga, the characters felt like natural pre-teens and not like they were pre-teen characters being written by an adult.

While Tokiko and Yosuke get the primary focus in the story, we also see that some of their classmates get some development as well. One of those classmates is a girl named Sayu, who has a crush on Yosuke and has a previous history as a compulsive liar. At one point, Sayu becomes jealous of Tokiko spending time with Yosuke and falls back into her old habit. I thought this felt realistic, and that Tokiko handled the situation well when she realized what was going on.

When it comes to the art, I thought Komori did a great job on the character designs for the kids. The kids each had a unique design, and as a reader, I really didn’t have to struggle to figure out who was who. Komori’s main weakness for character design is older women, because the grandmothers and elderly women that appear in the story look relatively similar, and it can be harder to distinguish between who is who.

I think that Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand will appeal to readers who enjoy dramatic stories featuring pre-teen and young teenagers that also include a mystery. It was a strong story that was told over the course of the 400 pages in this volume. When I finished reading it, the manga didn’t feel like it was too long or that any parts of the story felt rushed.

Oh wow, I really loved this one. Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand is the story of sixth grader Tokiko, who has moved to a remote seaside town with her father. Seven years before, Tokiko came to this town with her mother and nearly drowned in the sea; Tokiko remains convinced she was rescued by a merman that day. Tokiko’s search for merpeople, her grief about her absent mother, the new friends she makes at school, and the secrets of the town she uncovers are all woven together in an unhurried but absorbing slice-of-life tale. The art was absolutely gorgeous and really set the melancholy, wistful mood of the story.

Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand is the story about a girl coming back to a small town. I am not sure how I feel about this book. Unfortunately the watermark on my review copy was so dark that it made it hard to read on my phone and Netgalley's apps do not work on a Chromebook. So the tiny font and blurry pictures with a super dark watermark made it close to impossible to catch everything.

That being said, what I could read was sweet. 3 stars.

I reviewed this title for Booklist. Please see Booklist for the complete review and full feedback regarding this title.

I was sent this book on Netgalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is the first manga I have ever read. I say that, because I want it understood that I am not an expert. However, I do feel that having an "outsider's" perspective is valuable for any book.

This story begins when Tokiko moves with her dad to her grandmother's house by the ocean. We learn that her mother left the family and her dad moved to have more help raising his daughter. Tokiko is thrust into a new home and new school. The only memory she has of her grandmother's town is a mysterious memory of a mermaid.

I did enjoy this book. It had a slow start. I didn't really start enjoying it until three-quarters through. This is when the mystery that the story is wrapped up in becomes heightened. I felt that Tokiko's character was a bit shy and standoffish. However, I am an American and often read books with characters that have big personalities. Tokiko's personality shows up slowly as she develops as a character. I did like how it show she deals with different conflicts with others and with her own emotions. There were some times when I got a little confused with the word choices used by the characters. I think they are related to the culture and how people interact that is different from the culture that I am used to. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I would be willing to read more manga in the future. I do hope that those stories are a little more powerful.

They say there are mermaids in the town. Twelve-year-old Tokiko believes it, because when she was four, a mermen saved her from drowning, and now that she's moved back with her father, she wants to find the merman and thank him.

There's a lot going on here, from the quiet pain of personal tragedies to the lengths adults will go to "protect" children from life, all tempered with the need to believe. Although we are presented with mundane answers, the tail end still leaves us - and Tokiko - with space to believe in mermaids and sea gods, and that's the most important part of the book. What we know and how we make sense of that is up to us, and what we see out of the corners of our eyes may be the truth we need to hold on to.

"Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand" is a soft and melancholic story about a young girl named Tokiko and her father moving to the seaside after her parent's marriage falls apart. Tokiko believes she was saved by a mermaid in this town when she was four and spends the entirety of the story looking for him. The story was a great reflection of the small, sleepy town that it takes place in and I was very much engaged in the whole thing. I also enjoyed the characters and their development. It's a good read if you're looking for something sad.

I really liked this book! It was a gentle, grieving story with charming art. A girl moves to a small costal town, she's searching for the merperson who saved her from drowning, a welcome distraction from thinking about how her mother left. She and her friends explore the town and its history. In doing so they come across some uncomfortable truths, but, they'll be okay. Sand can be reshaped, after all.

A bittersweet story, this little slice of life tale is a great one shot for both children and adults. When Tokiko's parents separate, she and her father move to the small seaside town where her mother grew up. Having to start over in a town where everyone else has grown up together is a challenge by itself. Tokiko is dealing with her mother's disappearance along with building new friendships.
At the same time, strange memories are coming back to Tokiko. She remembers nearly drowning in this ocean, but being saved by a merman. Not to mention the town has some strange mysteries of it's own. And no one seems to be telling...

Soft and wispy artwork with gorgeous ocean scenery. This is a great comfort story that deals with the universal concept of loss and sadness while still taking in the beautiful moments in life.

Moving to a new town can be overwhelming when you’re a kid: everything seems unfamiliar, and you have to figure out where you fit in all over again. This is especially true for Tokiko, who follows her father from the bustling metropolis of Tokyo to the quiet seaside village of Sunano-Mori, where her grandmother lives. But Tokiko is struggling with more than just the discomfort of the move. This isn’t her first time in Sunano-Mori, and this is her chance to discover the truth behind obscure memories from her past. Could one of her classmates be the key to solving this mystery?

The best way to describe Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand is bittersweet: it deals with aspects of loss and sadness, but it also focuses on life’s simple pleasures and the beauty in the everyday. Fans of slice-of-life stories will likely enjoy this title, and it touches upon universal concepts and feelings in a way that children and adults can appreciate. The artwork is a perfect fit as well, with delicate line work highlighting the beauty in Tokiko’s world both far away and up close.

Some of the characters, especially some of Tokiko’s friends, feel a little flat, but I think that’s partly because the story is a bit more focused on the mysteries and beauty of the world around the characters and less so on their various personalities. In another story this might be a detriment, but it generally fits the tone and plot for Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand, in which the focus is on the individual through the lens of the community as a whole.

Despite the moments of loss or sadness, it’s a comforting read and a story I would revisit again in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review!

This was a sweet and poignant story of a 12 year old girl moving from Tokyo to a small costal town and dealing with her parents imminent divorce. This was slow paced and dealt with the tough emotions of the story in a kind and gentle manner. I really love the illustrations. The town and the ocean aesthetics were quite lovely.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Viz Media for the beautiful digital arc!