To Catch a Mermaid - Softcover

Selfors, Suzanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316018171 ISBN 13: 9780316018173

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009

Synopsis

Boom Broom doesn't think his life could get any worse. Ever since his mother was swept away by a twister, his family has gone crazy. They refuse to leave the house and Halvor, the Viking descendant who rents the room over their garage, will only cook fish for Boom and his sister Mertyle to eat.

When Boom finds a baby mermaid who seems to grant unlimited wishes, he thinks his luck has turned around. That is, until his sister is hit by the curse of the merfolk and starts to turn green. Now Boom and his best friend Winger must find a way to return the foul-tempered merbaby to its mother and save Mertyle before it is too late.

About this title

About the Author

Suzanne Selfors is the author of the Imaginary Veterinary series, the Smells Like Dog series, "Fortune's Magic Farm," "To Catch a Mermaid," and many other books. Rumor has it that she is a direct Viking descendant who enjoys marmalade toast and fried fish fillets. When not writing, she cares for wild critters, including a flock of messy chickens and two children. She lives on an island in Washington State where she likes to jog in the rain. She has been known to play a mean game of Kick the Ball Against the Wall.

From Publishers Weekly

When the unlikely hero of Selfors's assured debut, a luckless sixth grader named Boomerang Boom Broom, inadvertently brings home a baby mermaid instead of cheap seafood from the fish market for dinner, he sets off a madcap chain of events that turns his house bright pink, transforms his bathroom into a tropical beach replete with banana tree and monkey, puts his little sister Mertyle's life in grave danger, and miraculously heals his dysfunctional family from the sudden and bizarre loss of his mother. The baby mermaid, the ill-tempered antithesis of Disney's Princess Ariel with razor-sharp teeth and green-seaweed hair, possesses powerful magic that, at first, makes Mertyle's unwitting wishes come true; but the merbaby also brings with it a deadly curse that soon afflicts Boom's sister in the form of a bizarre white fungus. With time running out, can Boom find a cure for his fuzz-covered sibling? Featuring some outlandishly funny characters (among them the villainous, big-butted principal Mrs. Prunewallop and Halvor, the family cook who models himself on Erik the Red), Selfors's adventure also subtly explores serious themes like grief, adversity and misfortune. In a nutshell—or, more fittingly, a conch shell—her nimble fantasy is about Boom's journey of self-discovery and the feeling that comes from achieving a seemingly unreachable goal. A few unresolved plot threads, notably to do with the mother, point to a sequel. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0316018171
• ISBN 13: 9780316018173
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272