SOLVED. Mermaid book-- magic conch shell [s]

[drowningmermaid]

Probably from the 90s. Quite short-- shorter than most YA but not a picture book. The word "mermaid" was probably in the title somewhere. The copy I had was sea green, paperback, with a boy carrying a conch shell in the foreground (I think) and mermaid on a rock in the distance.

Follows the story of a boy and his sister. The boy gets a large (pink?) conch shell (as a gift?) and if he blows on it three times a mermaid appears. She is quite beautiful, and quite nasty.

I think the premise may have been something like she grants wishes, but in some mean-spirited way. Like making the family get the requested windfall by killing off a well-insured family member.

Anyway, the kids outsmart her by luring her on land with a comb and a mirror. The sister offers to do up her hair, and then the boy grabs her and threatens to cut off her hair if she won't fix whatever damage she's done. She is furious, but will do whatever they ask because: "I will be the laughingstock of all my sisters without my hair!"

She lives in mortal dread of being looked down on by other nasty mermaids. So all ends well, with her being forced to leave their fishing village alone forever.

Any ideas?

[D.M.]

Could it be The Mermaid Summer by Mollie Hunter?

[drowningmermaid]

YES! YES! That's it! I knew as soon as I saw the title/author. I owned a copy as a kid and I loved it... They don't seem to have my version on goodreads, though, so my cover description is off.

Thanks!

[Dayle]

I know this is over a year old, but thank you! I've been sitting here Google searching for the past half an hour trying to find the title of this book. It was a passing thought and I couldn't remember the plot at all . . . just that there was a mermaid. The second I read the description, I knew this was it! I remember loving the book as a child and now I'm trying to pass down some of my favorites to my daughter. I don't think I'd have found the title if not for this post! :)

[drowningmermaid]

So glad you got some help from it! I love that feeling... and I remember really liking this book, although I am probably biased because I adored everything mermaidy and maybe what I really liked was the premise/cover.

I think I wanted it to be about the mermaid becoming nice or something...

[Bryn]

Thank you so much for this post! I remember reading this book as a child but I could never remember enough of it to find it in searches as an adult. Now I can finally read it again. Thanks!!!