Reef Rescue (The Secret Mermaid) by Sue Mongredien
| Reef Rescue (The Secret Mermaid) by Sue Mongredien | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: The fourth book in The Secret Mermaid series provides another excellent tect for the emerging readier - probably a girl - who likes adventure and magic. Recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 96 | Date: March 2009 |
| Publisher: Usborne Publishing | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0746096192 | |
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Molly has really settled into living in her Gran's house, The Boathouse, at Horseshoe Bay and she's interested in all the shells and other things which she finds on the beach. Her Gran knows all about the sea, the shore and the reefs under the sea and tells her that large areas of coral reef are dying. This worries Molly as she knows that the mermaid called Coral who looks after the reef has lost her magic conch shell and is unable to protect the reef. Molly longs for the magic in her own conch shell to work so that she can return to the depths and help her friends.
A long time ago five of the conch-shell necklaces were stolen by the Dark Queen and Molly has already helped her friends Ella and Delphi to retrieve their shells. This time she has to help Coral and she only realises how desperate the problem is when she sees that the coral reef is bleached nearly white.
Sue Mongredien has her finger perfectly on the pulse of what children enjoy. The inspiration for this series came when her eldest daughter didn't want to go to her swimming lesson. Sue suggested that she imagined that she was a mermaid, swimming through the pool and that persuaded her to get into the water. It started Sue thinking about what a great story it would be if there really was a girl with the magic power to turn into a mermaid – and so Molly came into being.
This fourth book in the Secret Mermaid series is perfectly pitched for the emerging reader with eighty six pages of text divided into seven chapters. There's liberal use of illustrations by Maria Pearson which ensure that the pages are not too daunting – and that there are useful clues to the story if a little help is needed. The vocabulary is challenging but not too difficult for the newly confident reader. Don't worry if you haven't read the first three books in the series, you'll quickly catch up with the story!
It's a good story too with adventure, intrigue and just a little danger as the girls are pursued by a swarm of dangerous jellyfish and have to rescue a baby turtle. It's not a book which is likely to appeal to boys but any girl who enjoys magic and adventure is going to enjoy this book.
I'm always a little concerned when a book has a 'sneak preview' of the next adventure as this can put pressure on parents to buy another book when they might not want to do so. Here there are four pages of Deep Trouble taken from the next book. You could well end up buying all six books in the series.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Recently we've loved Dungeon of Doom another book in which Sue Mongredien has had a hand.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Reef Rescue (The Secret Mermaid) by Sue Mongredien at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Reef Rescue (The Secret Mermaid) by Sue Mongredien at Amazon.com.
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