The Singing Mermaid Board book – 4 April 2019

My five and almost three year old are huge Julia Donaldson fans and we recently added this book to our collection. The Singing Mermaid marks another collaboration between Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks and Monks' illustration style is perfect for this story.The Singing Mermaid tells the story of a mermaid with a beautiful singing voice who is tricked into joining the circus by it's devious owner. She is forced to sing in the circus and kept in a fish tank but does meet some new friends along the way. Can she, with their help, make it back to her home under the sea?The book is beautifully illustrated, with Monks' trademark bright colours and added glitter which we know so well from books like What the Ladybird Heard. It's the perfect match for this under the sea story with beautiful textures and so many things for your children to look at. Each page has some glitter on it and my almost three year old loves to touch this part of each page.It's a lovely book to read aloud and has Julia Donaldson's usual lyrical style. The poetry flows beautifully and it really lends itself to being learned by heart. My children love it when I stop before the last word of each line so they can complete it themselves. The characters are great and, while Sly Sam is clearly the bad guy (and 'naughty' accordiing to my children) he's not scary at all.I can see us continuing to enjoy The Singing Mermaid for some time to come. Another fantastic Julia Donalson story.

My 2-year old daughter absolutely adores this book and it's been a daily nap time and bed time favourite for a couple of months now. I originally bought the board book for durability and that is the one we use for bed time as she will often want to take it to bed with her. I bought the larger paperback version when it was £2 which is used just as much. The paperback has glitter throughout the pages on various illustrations which gives it a little extra magic and the whole thing is much larger so it's nice to curl up on the sofa to read on our laps. We have the other stories in the series and although we read them quite a bit none are loved as much as this one. There is a sticker activity book too which I look forward to giving her.

Granddaughters,and their mum enjoyed this book.

Grandchildren loved this book

My daughter loves this book, great bright pictures too.

Felt like a magical story which takes you away from reality. Lovely story for bedtime

This book was one of many my daughter got for her 2 year birthday. Out of about 10 other books this has to be her favourite! She always asks for this and we read it everyday at meal time. She loves that all the sea creatures come to watch the ‘singing mermaid’. She doesn’t like Sam Sly and makes an angry noise when he won’t let her go out of the fish tank and cheers when she escapes. The illustrations are magnificent. The storyline, rhyming and everything else is just magical for a child’s cognitive development. Up there with what the ladybird heard.

My granddaughter loved this. Thank you.