Modern Mermaids
‘The Mermaid and the Shoe’ and ‘The Mermaid’s Shoes’
Not
every little mermaid has to follow in the wake of Hans Christian
Andersen’s beloved fairy tale. Two new mermaids with tales all their own
swim to the surface in “The Mermaid and the Shoe,” written and
illustrated by K.G. Campbell, and “The Mermaid’s Shoes,” written and
illustrated by Sanne te Loo. These modern mermaids make for a refreshing
and amusing departure from their famous predecessor.
Campbell’s
story takes some of the classic elements of fairy tales and uses them
in clever, unexpected ways. Minnow, a little mermaid, lives beneath the
sea with her father, King Neptune, and her 49 sisters, with names like
Calypso and Thetis. All share the same wan beauty, but Minnow doesn’t
quite fit in. “Each princess,” Campbell writes, “was more remarkable
than the last. Except Minnow.” Her sisters can sing, train fish and grow
underwater gardens, but when Minnow sings, squid wince at the sound;
her garden is “limp and sparse.” “What are you even here for?” one
sister asks (“Sisters can be mean that way”).
One
day, a curvy, bright-red ladies’ pump drifts down into Minnow’s realm.
But unlike the story of Cinderella, there’s no question here of whether
the shoe fits; having no feet of her own, Minnow doesn’t even know what a
shoe is. After exploring its possibilities as a hat and a jewel box,
she clasps it to her chest and declares, “It has a purpose, and I will
discover it!” And so Minnow sets out on an adventure which ends not with
her deciding to trade her fishtail for legs (as Andersen’s mermaid did)
but rather with her establishing what it is that she – and the shoe –
are “here for.”
Campbell’s
illustrations, of shadowy blue undersea scenes lightened by pale
drifting hair and waving strands of kelp, have an attractive,
old-fashioned style that harks back to classic picture books of the
early 20th century. There’s something about the clotted-cream-colored
paper and the grainy, detailed watercolors, with their muted palette and
hints of gray, that is reminiscent of Jessie Willcox Smith’s
illustrations for the 1916 edition of “The Water-Babies” and Kathleen
Hale’s gorgeous midcentury “Orlando the Marmalade Cat” series. Yet
Campbell’s sense of visual humor and Minnow’s prince-free happy ending
suit 2014 beautifully.
In
te Loo’s “The Mermaid’s Shoes,” originally published in Dutch, Mia, a
little girl of about 6, returns home from a beach vacation yearning for
the sea. She has brought back a set of snorkeling flippers, and in the
elegant, vertical city where she lives, wears them to the playground,
and even to bed. A retinue of imaginary fish accompany her everywhere.
In search of a suitable environment for her new persona, she rides her
bike – with flippers flying behind – to observe marine life at an
aquarium and to visit a museum where whale skeletons hang from the
ceiling as if swimming through air. But neither venue seems quite right
for her.
At
last, Mia finds an ideal perch atop a fountain in the heart of town. An
observer snaps a smartphone photo, and soon children living from Japan
to the Arctic Circle are posting pictures of themselves in mermaid fins.
This social-media plot thread feels unnecessary in what could otherwise
be a picture book with lasting appeal. But te Loo’s double-spread
paintings, in rich, soft tropical colors, have a timeless charm. Te Loo
composes her pages with unusual perspectives, as Mia stands on an arched
bridge to look way down into a river, or peers up through a glass
ceiling at the looming figure of a shark. These heighten the drama of
what is essentially a sweet, quiet story about a little girl with a
great imagination.
THE MERMAID AND THE SHOE
Written and illustrated by K.G. Campbell
32 pp. Kids Can Press. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)
THE MERMAID’S SHOES
Written and illustrated by Sanne te Loo
26 pp. Lemniscaat. $17.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)