Wish upon a Starfish

Mermaid Tales #12

by Debbie Dadey, Tatevik Avakyan (Illustrations)

Pearl is excited to make a splash on stage—but she’s in for some drama in this Mermaid Tales adventure.

Pearl has always dreamed of being famous: the star-studded stage, the sea flowers, the applause! So when she finds out that her third grade class is performing The Little Human, she just knows she’ll get the leading role. Especially since world-renowned merstar Angelfish Molie is judging the tryouts!

But in a shocking turn of events, Pearl’s best friend, Wanda, gets cast as the little human instead…and Pearl is stuck playing the stinky sea witch. Pearl can’t believe her best friend would steal her dream role from her.

After Pearl tries—and fails—to get Wanda to trade parts, she decides to quit the play. Are Pearl’s dreams of being a sea star doomed? And can she and Wanda patch up their friendship before it goes up in bubbles?

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Chapter Books, Fiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2015

About the author

Debbie Dadey is the author and co-author of 162 books for children, including the Mermaid Tales series from Simon and Schuster and the beloved Adventures of The Bailey School Kids from Scholastic. Ms. Dadey is a former teacher and librarian. Please like her at Facebook.com/debbiedadey.

Reviews

[Erik This Kid Reviews Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice book about friendship, and about how good things can come out of things that don’t go exactly as planned. Ms. Dadey has a great writing style that makes you believe that you are actually under the sea with Pearl and the others. I was laughing at the fact that the play was called The Little Human – a play that is a play on The Little Mermaid. ;) There is other such humor in the book that will delight kids. The illustrations are nice black&white line-type pictures spread throughout the story and add a nice touch to the text. The reading level makes it perfect for young readers, but I think older kids will enjoy the story also. It is nice that the books are a series because you get to follow characters, but each book can be read independently without being lost. The characters are fun and kids can relate to them (even though they are mermaids/men). Don’t let The Mermaid Tales series fool you – boys will like the series too!
*NOTE* I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pearl, a mermaid, has always wanted to be a star, so she is very excited that her class will be presenting “The Little Human”. She dreams of getting the starring role of the Little Human, but instead she is cast as the evil witch. Can she be a supportive friend to the mermaid who gets the role she wanted and find a way to make her dreams come true without being bitter?

This edition by ABDO is a reinforced, library bound edition of a book from the 2015 series The Mermaid Tales by Deborah Dadey. The rebinding makes the book sturdier and meant for heavy use by school or public libraries. The series itself is a popular beginning chapter book series for newly proficient readers which would make the investment of a reinforced edition economical based upon how many circulations you would like to get from the series. This edition does also contain the book extras included in the original series. There are examples of the mermaid student’s compare and contrast projects which gives the reader more information about sea stars, a glossary of ocean words, and the Mermaid Tales song lyrics.

I would recommend this book for purchase by any school or public library.

This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by the SWON Library Consortium.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pearl comes off as a bit nicer in this story. She is still annoying though; I wanted to smack her when she was trying to take the lead part away from her best friend. The way that she went about it was just manipulative, how could you do that to your best friend? My gut told me something terrible was about to happen when I started reading the book, it was too positive.

Sure, Pearl is a brat, but at least she had finally come to her senses and didn't let Wanda give her the lead. I agree with Angelfish, playing the evil witch would have been a lot more fun, and it was.

I think Pearl grew a lot in this little story, so I liked it quite a bit.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't wait to share this with my granddaughter. Pearl's mermaid life is both enchanting and endearing. Debbie Dadey delivers again with a solid series for the chapter book set.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A: One of the reasons I liked this is because when someone meets a famous person she learns not to be jealous.

[Magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read aloud to Margo. Had to stop several times to discuss the main character's behavior and choices. She enjoyed it tremendously, at least.

[Bella Starr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for younger readers.

[Alexandra Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pearl wants to be the lead role in a play that her school is putting on. She practices and hopes so hard but she gets really upset when she doesn't get the lead part.