Sea Switch

Strange Encounters #3

by Linda Joy Singleton

Cassie's family is on a beach clean-up expedition in Oregon, and this time Cassie's best friend Rosalie has joined them. The two girls are ecstatic about the vacation and Cassie feels ready to tell Rosalie about her bizarre adventures . . . until Rosalie ditches her to play volleyball with a new friend.

Hurt and betrayed, Cassie wanders off down the beach and discovers a real mermaid named Galena! Before long, the sneaky sea creature magically tricks Cassie into switching bodies. Missing her family and her legs, Cassie soon learns that life under the sea isn't so great, especially when she's jailed for all of Galena's crimes. If she can't convince Galena's suspicious mermaid friends to help her switch back, Cassie may be stuck as a convicted mermaid for the rest of her life!

229 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

I started writing at 8 years old and when I speak to kids at schools or libraries I show them the stories I wrote as a child. I loved mystery series like Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew, and my DREAM was to write a series of my own. This happened when My Sister the Ghost was published by Avon books in 1994.

Since then I’ve been fortunate to write other series like The Seer, Dead Girl trilogy, Strange Encounters, Regeneration and Curious Cat Spy Club. I recently added a mini mystery to the Curious Cat Spy Club series titled Dog Rescue Time Warp which has a surprise ending.

I love hearing from fans and always write back. And I’ll send a spy activity packet to anyone that asks. Email link at www.LindaJoySingleton.com

Reviews

[Evan Þ. · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this kids' book, our protagonist is upset at how no one's paying attention to her on vacation, when she comes across a mermaid who magically switches bodies with her. Now she has to deal with the mermaid's crimes catching up with her, while trying to carry off switching back - while protecting the mermaids from unwanted human publicity.

It's a fun premise; unfortunately, the development didn't have any sparkle to me. Most of what our protagonist gets doesn't actually come from any cleverness or spunk or ingenuity on her part; it's brought to her from outside. In part you could argue it's because of her virtuous character, but that's still a weak plot.

Plus, we don't get to feel the wonder of the undersea realm; its wonders are told in passing while we focus on individual one-dimensional merpeople. Maybe I would've pardoned this anyway as a kid, but I wouldn't recommend it today.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sea Switch is my favorite of the Strange Encounters series. I thought the characters and story line were the most well developed of all three books. Maybe because it's the longest book, and the author had a chance to flesh out everything.

Cassie's father has heard someone's saying they've seen a mermaid, and he's absolutely bound and determined to prove mermaids don't exist. The whole family goes to the shore so he can investigate and disprove it on his TV show. Only problem is, Cassie finds out the mermaid is real.

Without giving away any of the story, I will only say the story is an intriguing one.