Hello library blog readers! It has been a while since my last post, but we are starting fresh this summer. The library has an exciting new website, and we are reviving The Renewal Notice! We have a fresh, new website and will have fresh, new posts on the blog highlighting library collections and services and topics important to the community.
There are a lot of very real and serious topics in the news right now, and you might be wondering why you have been seeing a lot of news stories about mermaids lately. Disney recently announced that the African American actress and singer Halle Bailey will play the mermaid Ariel in an upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. You can read more about the public’s varied reactions in this Washington Post article. The truth is that diverse cultures all over the world have mermaid-like creatures as part of their folklore and history. Most of them do not resemble the red-headed 1989 Disney version, which is based on the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale. The author Tracey Baptiste has recently written in the New York Times about how mermaids have always been part of Caribbean and African folklore, and inspired her as a writer. These articles in the Washington Post and CNN go into more detail about all the different world cultures that include mermaids as part of their folklore. The Hans Christian Andersen/1989 Disney version of Ariel is just one particular example of a mythological figure that spans the globe and history.
You can find stories that feature all kinds of mermaids at the McAllen Public Library. Here are some for you to check out:
Adult Fiction
- The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
- Guardians trilogy by Nora Roberts
- Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet
- Swimming Without a Net by Mary Janice Davidson
- Siren’s Surrender by Quinn Devyn
Adult Nonfiction
- The Mythical Zoo: Animals in Myth, Legend and Literature by Boria Sax
- Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, The Wondrous and the Human by Boria Sax
- The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by John Matthews
Teen Fiction
- Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson
- Forgive my Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
- Just for Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
- Fins are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs
- Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
- The Twice Lost by Sarah Porter
- Waking Storms by Sarah Porter
- Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
- Oceanborn by Amalie Howard
- Water Tales by Alice Hoffman
- Waterfire Saga by Jennifer Donnelly
Teen Nonfiction
- Legendary Creatures by Patrice Sherman
Children
- The Little Mermaid and Other Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
- To Catch a Mermaid by Suzanne Selfors
- Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
- Tallulah: Mermaid of the Great Lakes by Denise Brennan-Nelson
- The Desert Mermaid : La sirenita del desierto by Alberto Blanco
- Emily Windsnap series by Liz Kessler
- The Little Mermaid : La Sirenita adapted by Orio Izquierdo
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