First written in 2010, the Emily Windsnap series is still ongoing and is pretty popular. It has all the elements of a great story for girls (who WOULDN’T want to be a mermaid when you hit the water?), and is very fast paced. Emily lives on a boat with her mother, having never known her father. Her mother is portrayed as a bit scatter brained. Later we learn she is being drugged to forget that her husband is a merman, which is why her mother does not wish Emily to take swimming lessons. When Emily does eventually convince her mother, she learns she turns into a mermaid when she swims. Thus begins her story of finding out who she truly is and attempting to locate her father in the process. It’s not a badly written book but there are certain elements that gave me pause. Firstly, the relationship between Emily and her mother is more of a friendship than one of a mother and daughter. While it isn’t enough for me to not recommend the book, it wasn’t a great element. When Emily first learns she is a mermaid, she lies to her mom about being afraid of the water. Her mother then takes her to their friend “Mystic Millie” to be hypnotized. It was a bit of a silly part of the story and I wasn’t too concerned. However, by the end of the book, Millie takes on a more important role in the story and at one point, has to “realign the chakras” of a man Emily had knocked out. The story then delves a little deeper into New Age thinking and that is when I quit reading. Research into some of the other stories in this series revealed more New Age nonsense as well as stories based on climate change.

This book is kind of weird. It was initially written in Swedish and didn’t translate super well. It’s still a fun book and very interactive. I’d definitely recommend for your older kiddos (5-7). I liked the vintage pictures used. If your library has it, check it out!