Category: Poetry

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Shorelines by Ruth Ennis 

It’s been a while since I accepted a book to review – life has been incredibly busy over the last year! – but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to dive into Shorelines by Ruth Ennis.

The lovely people at TheWriteReads described this book as a reimagining of HC Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.

This YA fantasy novel in verse follows Muireann’s story.

Between a dying ocean and a divided world, a mermaid must choose between the sea that made her and the surface that might break her – in this stunning novel in-verse.

Muireann is a mermaid – fierce, curious, and proud of the body that keeps her warm beneath the waves. But life in the ocean is becoming impossible. The merfolk are at war with climate change that has ravaged the sea: food is scarce, and her twin sister was killed in a mass-fishing net. With her mother lost in grief and her world falling apart, Muireann dreams of escaping to the surface.

But the human world isn’t the haven she hoped for. It’s colder, crueler – and here, her large body is seen not as strength, but as something to be ashamed of. Muireann must find her voice and decide where she belongs –  beneath the waves, or above them.

Firstly, I love that Muireann is fat; that all the merfolk are. It feels so incredibly logical, given the survival mechanisms of marine mammals. I also love how strong her voice is – when I read novels in verse, I often find that if they’re told in first person, the poetry sort of overrides the sense of the character. That doesn’t happen at all here.

I love the layout of the poetry – the way that words and shapes interact. Here are a couple of examples that I thought were especially wonderful;

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In particular, this following poem really stood out to me. The alignment of the paragraphs to portray a conversation is so clever! No need for quotation marks, disrupting the very clean aesthetic of the verse that’s upheld throughout.

That said, the layout can get a little challenging at times. I found the following segment took a few reads before I figured out how it was intended to be read (i.e. bottom to top… I think). I wouldn’t necessarily want to change the format – I think it works so well as part of the metaphor of Muireann rising to the surface – but I might have liked an illustration that led the eye on this page, or at least something as a visual clue for where to start.

I think in general, that would be my main criticism of the book – the illustrations are beautiful and fit the tone fantastically, but I think there could have been a little more cohesion in how they were used.

It’s a minor point though, and it’s really all I’ve flagged as I read the book. I would still – and have already – recommend this to friends and family. As ever, I don’t really believe that children’s books should be confined to being read by children only, so I’ve sent links to this to numerous adult friends. It really is a spectacular offering in the ‘fairytale retellings’ genre. Along with Cinder House by Freya Marske (Cinderella), it’s possibly my absolute favourite.

A note on the ending: This book follows the HC Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, not the Disney one. It does so beautifully, I might add, and as someone who spent a lot of time at university studying Andersen, there’s a sense of ‘Finally!’ to this ending for me. I do understand, though, that not everyone is a lover of the bitter-sweet, so I do think it needs saying.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the different endings to The Little Mermaid, and I would love to hear of any other particularly good fairytale retellings you know of! Comments are always lovely, and it’d be great to chat books with people! Alternatively, you can find me over on Bluesky 🙂

Much love!

Fran xx

I’ve set up a ‘bookshop’ of sorts, over on Bookshop.org, so that I can point you to somewhere to buy that isn’t Amazon. I get a small commission for any sales made there. This helps to support me running this blog. If you’d like to get your copy of Shorelines this way, please just click here. If you’d like to support the running costs of this website without buying a book, you can do so here. Thank you.

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Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson

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Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson is a really fun introduction to gardening, and is one of those books which call for a high degree of interaction between reader and listener – something I absolutely love.

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Told in verse and requiring lots of finger actions, this is a fantastically fun little gem of a book. Beginning with the page above and ending with a row of flowers, there are all kinds of things to giggle at in between.

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There isn’t a great deal more to be said about this book – lots of bright illustrations, few well-chosen words… it’s a delight to read to small people.

It’s definitely one I would recommend getting a copy of and just trying for yourself.

Have you read Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson? Did you like it as much as me?

Farn ❤

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Feelings by Libby Walden & Richard Jones

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We’re pretty big on books about emotions in our house, which is why it came as quite a surprise when I hadn’t heard of this little beauty, lent to me by a friend.

Feelings by Libby Walden and Richard Jones is a wonderful book of short verses which explain our emotions. Whilst it has a similar vibe to A Great Big Cuddle, Feelings uses slightly more complex language and references a lot of things from the wider world. Whilst it might be tempting to say that this is a good alternative for older children, I think that would be underselling it – the fact that it’s poetry, and beautiful, means that anyone can enjoy it.

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I really love the colour palette that the artist has used, and I love the cut-out of the child at the heart of the book – specifically the way the that on the left, you can see the layers of different emotions building up, one page at a time.

And it’s a small thing, but the pages are really thick and it just feels good to turn them. They’re matt too, and incredibly tactile. As an object, before you even open the first page, it’s just begging to be picked up. The only other book that I’ve ever wanted to stroke quite this much has been The Restless Girls by Jessie Burton, but I’ll get to that another day…

Are there any books you enjoy which just feel inviting?

Farn ❤

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Pass it on by Sophy Henn

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Pass It On by Sophy Henn is a lovely little book about happiness, and how we can share our joy with others.

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It covers the big, exciting things in life – like spotting a whale! – and the smaller things which bring joy from day-to-day like jumping in puddles.

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The illustrations are fun and stylish, and the poem which forms the text of the book is nicely written, though at times, I feel like my accent works against me with the rhyme scheme and I can’t quite put my finger on why.

This is a great book to couple with those about more unpleasant feelings. If you’re looking to start a collection of stories which deal with emotions then this is definitely a nice one to keep in there. It’s easy to focus on the things a child might find difficult – sadness, anger, frustration and fear – and forget to provide examples of the more positive things in life. This isn’t a failing on our part – just a tendency to take for granted the ability to shine a light on the things that are good. I know this is something I’ve been guilty of in the past – trying to help my children navigate and accept their big feelings through stories but neglecting to remind them to celebrate the good they find along the way.  I’m forever telling them that they can’t control what other people do, only their own actions and Pass It On is a really lovely reminder of the positive things that can happen when you make the decision to share what’s good in your life.

Which are your favourite books about being happy, and about sharing joy?

Farn ❤

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Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang

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Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang is probably as old as I am, if not older. Whilst it could conceivably be argued that I’m reviewing it for nostalgic reasons, this isn’t one of the books that I (knowingly) enjoyed in childhood. For me, this was another golden charity shop find and has since been adored by both Son and Daughter for the past seven years.

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First of all, I love the artwork – the book’s blurb describes it as having, ‘rich, bold colours’ and I couldn’t agree more. I also love the language used – in all the (many) books I’ve read to my daughter in the last seven-and-a-bit years, this is the only one which has referred to a girl as strong in the physical sense of the word. Later books – intended for older readers – have used the adjective to describe personality but bodily strength is not a characteristic that’s normally attached to female protagonists. Which is an issue, when you’re raising a girl who happens to have the beginnings of a six-pack.

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I love the realism of the book – that there are seven shoes along the edge of the bed, one half of a pair temporarily misplaced. I love the detail in the illustrations – the cat that’s present in nearly all of the pictures seems to be up to something new in each one. I love that it’s Dad, tenderly putting his daughter to bed and that this isn’t a laboured point.

The poem that carries us through the countdown is simple and neat, but equally warm and affectionate. Whilst I can pretty much recite it from memory, I haven’t grown tired of it yet, which is always a good sign.

This is another older book that I really would urge you to go out of your way to find. As you can tell from the pictures above, our copy has been well-loved and though both children are, if I’m being honest, too old for it, I can’t imagine not having it in the house so I’m on the hunt for another copy.

Tell me I’m not the only person who can’t let go of books – which have you clung on to?

Farn ❤