Merbaby

Merbaby

From Publishers WeeklyBateman (Leprechaun Gold) and Brewster (Bear and Mrs. Duck) have created a smoothly paced, engaging story of a kindly fisherman and the baby mermaid whom he finds among the fish in his net. While Tarron does backbreaking work on the boat of his greedy brother, Josh, he dreams of the day he might buy his own ship and sail away on exotic adventures. Fishing in treacherous waters, the brothers hear the strains of a mermaid's dangerous song as she attempts to lure them to certain destruction. Tarron covers his ears and steers their ship away from the rocky island but, once safe, Josh rebukes him for not capturing the mermaid and, thus, ensuring their fortune. Later, when the merbaby appears in their net, the brothers make plans to sell her for exhibition. Tarron comes to realize that he "could no more take this merchild onto land than he could throw a human child into the sea." While Josh sleeps, Tarron begins the dangerous journey back to the mermaid. Brewster's full-spread, finely detailed artwork features windblown characters and boats set starkly against washes of pale green, blue and dark aqua, a worthy backdrop for this mythical tale. Ages 4-8.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.When he and his brother Josh find a merbaby caught in their fishing net, Tarron, rejecting his brother's plan to sell the baby and make a profit, discovers that there are greater treasures than gold.From School Library JournalGr 2-4-Bateman has written several wonderful tales to enrich storytellers' repertoires, but this latest effort sinks beneath the weight of its oddly distanced language and its labored message. Two fishermen are sailing dangerous waters in search of a catch that will make their fortunes. Tarron would rather travel than fish, but he submits to his greedy brother's will. One day they haul in a merbaby, which the grasping man proposes to sell or to display in a glass cage, charging admission. Tarron cannot stomach this idea and takes the baby to the merpeople, who reward him with treasure from the sea. The story, which yearns to be magical, lies limp in the matter-of-fact telling. It's all so blas that even Brewster's graceful pencil-and-watercolor illustrations cannot save it. Harve and Margot Zemach's A Penny a Look (Farrar, 1971) is a much livelier story with a similar theme.Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NYCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From BooklistAges 6-8. Compassion and a charming baby win wealth for a poor fisherman in this well-told, elegantly illustrated original story. Tarron, unlike his greedy brother, dreams of owning a ship of his own. After narrowly escaping a siren whose song nearly draws their fishing boat onto the rocks, Tarron earns his brother's praise by netting a merbaby. But feeling the child trustingly pat his cheek, Tarron knows that he must return her to the siren. There is nothing Disneylike about the dangerous-looking mermaid and the other merfolk who gather threateningly around Tarron and his tiny burden, but they put aside their enmity for land dwellers to give thanks and load Tarron down with sunken treasure. All the figures, finned and footed, are posed with downcast eyes, painted in misty colors, and sometimes even seen through picture frames. Mannered though the art may be, it has a beguiling air of formal lyricism that echoes the tone of Bateman's narrative. John PetersCopyright