A Natural History of Mermaids by Emily Hawkins

 

A NATURAL HISTORY OF MERMAIDS is a beautiful cloth-bound book that gives the fictitious account of a female explorer named Darcy Delamare who sneaks aboard the HMS Challenger while disguised as a man in order to conduct secret research on mermaids. The book is written in a pseudo-scientific style, recounting different types of mer-creatures from all over the world, with illustrations on what they look like, their life cycles, and even how they use different types of shells in their culture. The illustrations are nice and it's a cute premise. Books like these, I feel, tend to be geared towards whimsical adults and precocious children.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars