Soft and strange and lovely in many many ways...and at the same time, the fantasy of a totally sufficient white* heterosexual family in a pristine and entirely unpeopled wilderness to which they have all come within the last generation is a colonialist one. It doesn't stop being a colonialist fantasy because Randal Jarrell wrote beautiful prose.

*The mermaid, of course, is technically not white. Her skin color is not specified but is mentioned as being dark. I do not think this invalidates the above critique. ( )

i liked the way this started, and i liked the middle parts about the bear and lynx, but otherwise didn't really enjoy this much. it also felt weirdly...colonist, but i'm sure that's because of all i've been reading lately. like the mermaid coming to land and finding it better and superior in every way; it just felt icky to me. but the open hearted stories of living with animals were sweet. i just wish it had all been like that. ( )

A charming book about the ways that family comes together and creates bonds, through adventures, curiosity, willingness to adopt others' languages and ways of living, and shared story-telling (and retelling). ( )

The book is more of a children's book. It was enjoyable but I wouldn't read it again. I could not really get that into it because of how unrealistic it was...I know you read books to escape and go into a unrealistic world but this book was way out there.

The only reason why I read the book was because I was at a friends house and she just happen to have it laying around, so I picked it up and started reading it. It took me two days to read it. It wouldn't have took that long if it was for the fact that, that house has always got something going on and it gets really detracting sometimes. ( )

A hunter living in a cottage near the sea falls in love with a mermaid, who comes to live with him. They adopt a bear cub, a lynx kitten and a little boy and live happily ever after.
A sweet and simply told story with nicely drawn characters and lovely illustrations by Maurice Sendak. ( )