The Tail of Emily Windsnap

May 31, 2004
Pre-teen girls will likely bite at this novel's tempting bait, offered in the opening lines: "Can you keep a secret? Everybody has secrets, of course, but mine's different." Emily Windsnap, who narrates, is half-mermaid, as she discovers, inconveniently, in her seventh-grade swim class. Despite never having had a lesson, she takes to the water like, well, a fish. Before Emily's first kick turn she feels her legs melding into a tail. She hops out of the water before she can be branded a freak, but she's hooked. At night, she sneaks from the boat where she lives with her mother to explore the undersea world, and unravel the mystery of her genetics—which involves her long-missing, never-discussed father. Newcomer Kessler anchors her fantasy in the nitty-gritty of adolescence: Emily bests a bully who comes close to guessing her secret, and she finds a best friend in Shona, a mermaid she meets during her nightly swims. Coincidences drive the plot—Shona has recently studied illegal mermaid-human marriages in school; a creepy lightkeeper drops a key that unlocks a treasure chest containing a file spelling out the entire backstory. The jewel-toned jacket art and ink-wash illustrations sprinkled throughout add girlish charm to an imaginative story. Ages 8-12.

Starred review from July 12, 2004
Kessler's debut novel—a whale of a tale that pays homage to the sea and its mythical creatures—makes a splash as an audiobook, deftly performed by British actress Williams. Younger listeners may recognize Williams as the voice of mouse-dancer Angelina in the animated television series Angelina Ballerina
. But everyone else will simply applaud the actress's turn as 12-year-old Emily Windsnap, who discovers she is half mermaid. Unfortunately, Emily discovers her secret upon entering a swim class at her new, very intimidating junior high school. Her journey to navigate uncharted waters—both literally, in the ocean, and in the halls of school, makes for an entertaining listen. Williams captures the believable rhythm of dialogue between daughter and mother or preteen peers with equal skill. Wringing notes of excitability, trepidation and newfound confidence, she unfolds Emily's discoveries at just the right pace. And adding extra oomph, Williams's portrayal of Millie, a sometimes-clairvoyant friend of Emily's mother, is a great bit of comic relief. Ages 8-up.

November 1, 2004
Gr 3-6-Twelve-year-old Emily discovers her true self and uncovers family secrets in Liz Kessler's imaginative fantasy novel (Candlewick, 2004), which begins with Emily offering to share a secret with listeners. Emily discovered she was half-mermaid when she decided to conquer her fear of swimming and found that her legs transformed into a mermaid's tail when underwater. Exploring the waters around the houseboat on which she and her mother live, Emily finds an entire mermaid world underneath the surface. The wonders of this world are described in detail, from the colors of the mermaid tails to the glowing magic of the coral reef. Guided to the land of the merfolk by her new friend, Shona, Emily learns about the history of these people and their relationship with humans, especially the so-called "illegal marriages" between the two. When Emily realizes that her merman father, who supposedly abandoned their family when Emily was a baby, was imprisoned for having a relationship with her mother, Emily sets out to free her father and reunite their family. Narrator Finty Williams reads the story with a British accent and steady pacing, and provides an excellent interpretation of the characters. Slight variations in intonation give each character a unique identity. This audiobook will appeal to young girls who enjoy a good fantasy adventure.-Casey Rondini, Hartford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.