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Do Little Mermaids Wet Their Beds
Cecelia is a lovely little girl, and ever so clever - she can dress herself, and use a knife and fork, but she goes to bed and worries because she also wets her bed. Then one night she has a dream that she visits mermaids - and what does a little puddle matter in the mighty sea? In this new rhyming tale, Jeanne Willis gently sympathises with small bed-wetters everywhere, and suggests that worrying about it is part of the problem. Penelope Jossen, childminder and illustrator, affectionately illustrates Cecelia's night-time trimuph in this, her first, picture book.
- GenresChildrensPicture Books
32 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
About the author
Jeanne Willis
487 books117 followersJeanne Willis was born in St Albans and trained as an advertising copywriter at Watford College. She worked for various agencies creating press adverts and TV, cinema and radio commercials. She is now a full-time writer and has published over 80 books. Her hobbies include gardening, reading (non-fiction), natural history and collecting caterpillars. Jeanne has also worked on scripts for TV, including POLLY POCKET and THE SLOW NORRIS, and a pilot TV series for DR XARGLE. She lives in North London with her husband and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 3, 2021
I do believe in mermaids! I do, I do!
This review originally published at https://www.drttmk.com/books/do-littl....
It seems like it's trying to make bedwetting okay-- which it is, for a certain age-- but it has a very mixed message. It's basically trying to say that it's both okay and not okay at the same time, which is really confusing.
There's a four-year-old little girl named Cecilia. It talks about all the things that she can do: she can wash herself, dress herself, and use the telephone (this book was written in 2000, but I kind of feel like most telephones were cordless then), ride a bike, write her name, and she doesn't ride in a stroller anymore. "But I hate to have to tell you this,/she always wet the bed." The next page: "She didn't mean to do it!/But no matter how she tried,/there were stains on certain mattresses/and sheets hung up outside." And her teddy bear has to get washed. She's got plastic sheets. She's trying: she's not drinking very much at bedtime, she keeps trying to go before she sleeps (but she doesn't have to go then). Her mother says, "One day/you'll wake up dry--/It just takes time, my sweet."
Then one night she has a dream about a mermaid. The mermaid says, 'Come play with me.' And she packs her things and writes a note, and gets a suitcase, and goes and finds the mermaid and they go playing in the ocean in a bizarre sequence. And then "They lay down on the seabed/on a mattress made of sand,/and our little girl was happy/for the mermaid held her hand." The mermaid says, "I used to wet /my/ bed./It didn't worry me!/What does a little puddle matter/in the mighty sea?/You'll soon stay dry all night;/till then you're not alone./I'm sure when she was four/the Queen of England wet her throne." (Not only does that not matter, but the Queen of England wouldn't have wet her throne because she doesn't sleep there.) The girl goes home and then creeps upstairs all wet, and then lies down and sleeps. Her mother comes in the morning and says, 'Hey, you're all wet but your bed is dry somehow,' and that's the end. Huh?
This dream somehow magically makes her not wet her bed, but was the dream real, or was it not? She's wet but she's not wet?? The ending pages mention that it was written by a pediatric urologist, and that wetting the bed is normal, and gives some suggestions of how to help, including for "children over five years old, adolescents, and even adults who still wet the bed". Sometimes it helps to just tell children that bed wetting is a thing, like by reading a story about it. It seems like the book is aimed at kids who are having problems wetting the bed, but it wants to have it both ways, by saying it's perfectly normal, but using language that seems to shame the bed-wetter: "I hate to have to tell you this,/she always wet the bed."
For our family, when the kids were bed-wetting age, they wore overnight pull-up diapers. That way, they dealt with the issue themselves, and were able to choose when they felt ready to try to sleep without them. At a certain age, a child's body is capable of waking them up when they need to use the bathroom. Before that age, trying to get them to stop wetting the bed is a losing battle, since they have no control over it. I feel reading this book is just going to reinforce the fact that they have no control over it, and I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, since it can't make up its mind whether to blame or absolve the child. And at the end, when she doesn't wet the bed, her mother calls her "clever". That doesn't seem like the right word to use there, since it's not like she's solving some sort of puzzle.
I don't think it'll hurt a kid to read this book, but I don't think it'll help. I can't say much bad about it-- it's just weird.
Message: Even mermaids wet their beds.
This review originally published at https://www.drttmk.com/books/do-littl....
It seems like it's trying to make bedwetting okay-- which it is, for a certain age-- but it has a very mixed message. It's basically trying to say that it's both okay and not okay at the same time, which is really confusing.
There's a four-year-old little girl named Cecilia. It talks about all the things that she can do: she can wash herself, dress herself, and use the telephone (this book was written in 2000, but I kind of feel like most telephones were cordless then), ride a bike, write her name, and she doesn't ride in a stroller anymore. "But I hate to have to tell you this,/she always wet the bed." The next page: "She didn't mean to do it!/But no matter how she tried,/there were stains on certain mattresses/and sheets hung up outside." And her teddy bear has to get washed. She's got plastic sheets. She's trying: she's not drinking very much at bedtime, she keeps trying to go before she sleeps (but she doesn't have to go then). Her mother says, "One day/you'll wake up dry--/It just takes time, my sweet."
Then one night she has a dream about a mermaid. The mermaid says, 'Come play with me.' And she packs her things and writes a note, and gets a suitcase, and goes and finds the mermaid and they go playing in the ocean in a bizarre sequence. And then "They lay down on the seabed/on a mattress made of sand,/and our little girl was happy/for the mermaid held her hand." The mermaid says, "I used to wet /my/ bed./It didn't worry me!/What does a little puddle matter/in the mighty sea?/You'll soon stay dry all night;/till then you're not alone./I'm sure when she was four/the Queen of England wet her throne." (Not only does that not matter, but the Queen of England wouldn't have wet her throne because she doesn't sleep there.) The girl goes home and then creeps upstairs all wet, and then lies down and sleeps. Her mother comes in the morning and says, 'Hey, you're all wet but your bed is dry somehow,' and that's the end. Huh?
This dream somehow magically makes her not wet her bed, but was the dream real, or was it not? She's wet but she's not wet?? The ending pages mention that it was written by a pediatric urologist, and that wetting the bed is normal, and gives some suggestions of how to help, including for "children over five years old, adolescents, and even adults who still wet the bed". Sometimes it helps to just tell children that bed wetting is a thing, like by reading a story about it. It seems like the book is aimed at kids who are having problems wetting the bed, but it wants to have it both ways, by saying it's perfectly normal, but using language that seems to shame the bed-wetter: "I hate to have to tell you this,/she always wet the bed."
For our family, when the kids were bed-wetting age, they wore overnight pull-up diapers. That way, they dealt with the issue themselves, and were able to choose when they felt ready to try to sleep without them. At a certain age, a child's body is capable of waking them up when they need to use the bathroom. Before that age, trying to get them to stop wetting the bed is a losing battle, since they have no control over it. I feel reading this book is just going to reinforce the fact that they have no control over it, and I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, since it can't make up its mind whether to blame or absolve the child. And at the end, when she doesn't wet the bed, her mother calls her "clever". That doesn't seem like the right word to use there, since it's not like she's solving some sort of puzzle.
I don't think it'll hurt a kid to read this book, but I don't think it'll help. I can't say much bad about it-- it's just weird.
Message: Even mermaids wet their beds.
September 18, 2018
The book had a great rhyming scheme throughout the book. The book addressed a little girl wetting her bed while she can do all these other things perfectly well but keeping her bed dry. The book would be great for children who are still wetting the bed to tell them that it is okay and one day their bed will be dry too. The book sends a positive message that the girl is not alone in wetting the bed and that the mermaid and probably the Queen of England wetted the bed as well.
November 24, 2021
Completely charming, and so very delightful! I get as much enjoyment reading this lovely book to my granddaughter as she does! I highly recommend this wonderful book
May 24, 2013
I really enjoyed the pictures in this book. They are very cute. However, the story itself, while it attempts to be helpful to children who are frustrated by a bed-wetting habit, doesn't quite deliver. The only thing it says is that one day, your bed will be dry and BOOM! there you go! However, bed-wetting isn't solved in one dry night. And the reassurance that the mermaid is supposed to give Cecelia is a quick afterthought to the tale of their adventure under the sea.
Also, in the morning, her wet coat and hat seem to give the impression that she had an actual encounter with a mermaid, instead of a reassuring dream. I found this to be odd and confusing to the story.
Also, in the morning, her wet coat and hat seem to give the impression that she had an actual encounter with a mermaid, instead of a reassuring dream. I found this to be odd and confusing to the story.
March 14, 2016
A little girl having trouble wetting the bed, dreams one night that a mermaid girl comes to see her and invites her on an underwater adventure together. The mermaid girl tells the girl that she too wet the bed and probably even the Queen of England did as a girl as well. This is a simple story that probably will ease some of the anxieties of a small child dealing with this dilemma. However, not my favorite. I felt it was a little strange and disconnected. I didn't really understand why the author had chosen the mermaid girl to come and talk to her and why the little girl had to pack her bags to go on this adventure. Appropriate for grades PreK thru K.
March 18, 2016
A little girl having trouble wetting the bed, dreams one night that a mermaid girl comes to see her and invites her on an underwater adventure together. The mermaid girl tells the girl that she too wet the bed and probably even the Queen of England did as a girl as well. This is a simple story that probably will ease some of the anxieties of a small child dealing with this dilemma. However, not my favorite. I felt it was a little strange and disconnected. I didn't really understand why the author had chosen the mermaid girl to come and talk to her and why the little girl had to pack her bags to go on this adventure. Appropriate for grades PreK thru K.
July 19, 2014
A very good book for little ones learning to use the potty/toilet, lovely rhyming story with lovely illustrations!
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May 10, 2019good story for encouraging a young bedwetter that it will get better.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews