SOLVED. Children's book. Read it around 2005, when I was in elementary school. The cover shows a mermaid trapped in a fisherman's net, along with a wooden 17th- or 18th- century ship. Plot details in comment. [s]

[Freddy]

Plot: The mermaid gets caught in a fishing net and put in a barrel. At night, the mermaid sings, and one day, a boy working on the boat (I think his name is James) sets her free. I believe one of the illustrations in the book shows a creature that looks like a giant clam or oyster with two human arms coming out of it.

[Becca]

Do you think it's the same book that Briana is looking for here?
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This post hasn't been solved yet but combining details from both posts might help us with the search.

[Becca]

Escape from the Carnivale by Dave Barry (also published with the title The Missing Mermaid) matches your cover description and features a boy called James, but I'm not sure if the other details match:


It's a chapter book (approx. 150 pages) with illustrations rather than a picture book (approx. 20-50 pages) - what type of book is the one you're looking for?

[Freddy]

Yes, this is the book I'm looking for! Thank you very much!