Minnow Vail

Reviewed January 2006

I had this book as a child, but don't remember the story only the lovely cover. It is of a beautiful blond girl sitting for her portrait, the artist is painting her as a mermaid. I just happened to see this book at Smiths (Eugene Oregon) and bought it. "Minnow" is 15, living in a sea town near L.A. she is experiencing the normal changes, thinks she is ugly and wants to be older. She has a good family life and spends most of her time at the beach her goal is to become a mermaid for the annual parade/festival her city does every year. While this is going on other situations happen, her best friend Laura gets polio, her awful cousin Lucia stays the summer with her. An exchange student from Holland is also a secondary show more character. Minnow is also discovering the wonderful mystery of boys. A major topic of discussion with friends, she also reads about them in magazines, funny how she never noticed those articles before even though she re-reads her magazines monthly. This is a nice story, a little about morals and a lot about the seashore. Author mentions safety quite a bit and has some knowledge of the sea himself.

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