Remarkables

May 20, 2019
In an enigmatic story, a boy snorkeling in the waters off a Coney Island–like amusement park has an unexpected encounter: “The world is a remarkable place, which means sometimes you go looking for a fish... and meet a mermaid instead,” Mantchev writes pensively. In a sequence of wordless tableaus, the mermaid—nymphlike in Litchfield’s enchanting art, with blue-green hair and a coppery tail—takes the boy to the ruins of her underwater home. On the surface, a circus is in full swing, full of revelers in long dresses and top hats. The mermaid and boy travel with the circus from city to city, the mermaid performing in small pools, then a glass aquarium. Readers may wonder at the mermaid’s decision to give up the ocean for circus life, but the choice is clearly her own—as is her decision to eventually return home (“Sometimes we go looking for an adventure only to discover exactly where we belong”). Ages 4–8.

June 15, 2019
In this circus-themed tale, a lonely mermaid experiments with friendship, belonging, and adventure. A brown-skinned, dark-haired kid dives into the ocean and meets a pale, green-eyed mermaid. The two strike up a fast friendship. Together, they explore the depths of the mermaid's underwater home, where a framed photograph implies that the finned protagonist once had a family but is now an orphan. Can the mermaid find family with this new friend, whose home is in a circus on dry land? The tale that follows is a tangle of busy images, sparse text, and an underdeveloped plot, told through the unfortunate metaphor of the big top. The mermaid joins the traveling carnival for a short time before becoming homesick and returning to the sea, but Mantchev's narration claims that the mermaid's fellow troupe members are "strangers who become friends, / and friends who become family." Lines like this, matched incongruently with the story's sequence of events, make for an inconsistent read with little emotional resonance. Complete with the strong man, the tattooed lady, the Orientalized brown man in a turban (seemingly a prop rather than garment of faith), and a nearly all-white audience--and the shocking display of the mermaid in a tank for crowds to gape at--Litchfield's circus does little to challenge the dehumanizing spectacle that this institution is well known for. A big flop. (Picture book. 5-9)

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