Amphitrite the Bubbly

Goddess Girls #17

by Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

A new mergirl shows up at Mount Olympus Academy—and Poseidon just might be her perfect match in this seventeenth Goddess Girls adventure.

Amphitrite is a mergirl with a big crush on Poseidon—but will his quirks make her fall out of like?

Genres: Mythology, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Greek Mythology, Fiction, Childrens, Retellings

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 18, 2015

About the author

NY Times bestselling children's book author:
GODDESS GIRLS series + HEROES IN TRAINING series (w Suzanne Williams); THIS LITTLE TRAILBLAZER a Girl Power Primer; ZERO THE HERO; I AM THE SHARK. Lucky to be doing what I love!

Reviews

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't my favourite book in the series but I think it was a good addition to it. I loved seeing some familiar faces from earlier in the series that don't go to MOA, as well as getting more of two of my favourites; Hades and Pandora, AND the awesome new character of Delphinius, but I thought the story let this book down.

Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention, because although the whole contest thing seemed cool at first, I soon found it to be overcomplicated and very badly paced, in my opinion. The first half of the book was just boring to me because the whole mermaid thing didn't interest me for some reason and then the contest came up and suddenly I was getting tons of names and rules thrown at me. By the time the first task actually started (HALFWAY through the book!) I had pretty much lost interest in what it was about. To be honest though, this was probably more my problem than the book's, because I think I am now technically over the intended reading age and I was reading this in short bursts, so the set-up chapters felt much longer to me than they probably were.

Another thing that sort of bothered me was Amphitrite as a main character. Although I later came round to the fact that she was actually quite a sweet girl, at first I just couldn't see what was likeable about her. Almost everything she did was for herself and the complications and quirks of mermaid life didn't grab me. Perhaps if the opening scene had been more exciting or eventful and had shown a little more of the mermaids' lives, I would have cared more. However, as I said, by the end I liked her a lot more and I'm looking forward to seeing her crop up in later books.

I really enjoyed reading from Poseidon's POV, and thought the authors did a fantastic job of portraying his character as well as adding to it in this book. I also thought Poseidon and Amphitrite's relationship developed more slowly than most of the previous crushes in the series (excepting possible Athena and Heracles?). Seeing both sides of it really made it feel more realistic and to me it was very well done.

Towards the end of the book the contest started to feel very rushed (they travelled halfway around the world in about two chapters!), in contrast to the slowness at the beginning, which goes back to my point about bad pacing. Still, I was impressed by the way that storyline wrapped up and the overall ending to the book was very cute! Overall I was disappointed with this book's plot and I think the first half could've been a lot better, but it excelled in many places and I would recommend reading this book if you like the series.

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

➳ 4 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

poseidon and amphitrite are my new favorite thing (i know, i say that every time about every new relationship presented in these books but who’s going to stop me 🤭) and i thoroughly enjoyed this book.

this plot was so much fun and i loved the element of the games and also the ol’ sister switch which happened in this book. also, like i have already alluded to, the ROMANCE.

i have always loved flawed, cocky, proud, flirty, insecure poseidon and now seeing him fall “in like” as these books say (yeah, I know…) made me feel like a proud mama. amphitrite was a fun mc as well and i’m glad i read this.

can’t wait to read the rest of this series!!


୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Poseidon, the plot is very interesting.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice fun story. Not destined to win lit prizes but a pleasant story, with clear good and bad groups. Amphitrite, is a good mergirl but she has never managed to do the transformation spell to be able to go from ocean to land. She gets to join a competition that Zeus has set up for MOA (Mount Olympus Academy) that’s fun till the giants and Geia, their Mom, crashes. The rules are changed to include a team of giants. Will Poseidon, her captain, and her team manage to win against the cheating giants? Will Poseidon and Amphitrite learn some lessons and succeed against the giants and Geia? Will Amphitrite be able to master the shape shifting spell? Read to find out. Pleasant story, some excitement suitable for students younger than junior high level. Nice moral themes that do not spoil the story by being too obviously moralistic. Recommended. Reader who age out of this series might be ready for Rick Riordan’s first series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

[Tiffany Spencer]

Amphitrite the Bubbly
Chapter 1: (Mermaids)
Amphitrite and Thetis are searching for their missing sister Halia. We learn they are twelve-year-old twins. The oldest of fifty mermaid sisters. Their mother is the principal of Mediterranean Undersea Middle School (or MUMS for short). Their father is Nereus and he oversees colonies of seals.

They spot Halia’s lavender tail by Anemone Rock. Thetis uses the shape-shifting spell. Amphite is envious of her sister's ability and dreams of exploring the “land world”. When they find Halia, she’s weak and pale. Mortals spot them and call them out, but they tell them their costumes and quickly return Halia to the sea. They then return to school.

There’s exciting news. Zeus sent a bulletin announcing that the Temple Games are starting. Rumors say some of the mermaids will be invited to participate. Amphitrie dreams of being chosen, but doubts she’ll be picked because she can’t shape-shift.

Chapter 2: Choosing Teams
All the students at MOA gather to hear Zeus announce the team leaders. Poisdeon desperately wants to be chosen. Even tho he’s popular, powerful, and his grades are good, he feels like something is missing. This will give him a chance to prove himself. Zeus instead chooses Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Iris, Medusa, and Pheme. Only Pheme will be reporting on the games. So, Poseidon is picked in Pheme’s place.

Hermes then delivers them white scrolls (with rules and updates) and purple scrolls to captains (giving info and magical guidance). Pandora and Hades are on his team. He can choose two non- MOA students. Poseidon chooses Thetis and Delphimius (a close friend of his that can shift into a dolphin).

He has second thoughts about Thetis when he gets a prophecy that says she could outshine him. So, he tries to change his pick but is informed its too late. (He tries to change his pick to her twin Amphitrite).

Chapter 3: Invitation
During a field trip to see a shipwreck, a mysterious bubble appears and starts to follow students until it bumps into Amphitrite. It gives a message that gives a map to Delphi, instructions to be at the temple tomorrow, and an invitation to the Temple Games. It says the message is for Thetis Of=the Sea. Thetis says she doesn’t want to participate, and she knows that Amphitrite has always wanting to visit the land. Amphitrite shape-shifts for the first time, and Thetis says it’s a sign that this is the right thing. She’s then taken to Delphi and lands at the Sacred Way where she meets Persephone.

Chapter 4: : The Gathering
“Thetis” introduces herself to Poseidon, Hades, Pandora, and Delphinius. Poseidon is still thinking of the warning, so he’s wary of her. We find out about whose on the other teams. On Iris’s team are Antheia and Hephaestus. On Ares’s team are Makhal, Kydoitmos, Isis, and Ris. Athena’s team includes Hercules, Dionysus, Panacea, and Harmonia. Apollos team is Eros, Actaeon, Centaur, and Epimetheus. Medusa’s team is her sisters Stheno and Euryale, plus Wen Chi and Mazu. Artemis’s team is Agalaia, Ascalabus, and two Amazons (Penthesila and Hippolyta). Iris’s last two teammates are Zephyr and Boreas.

The rules are explained by Persephone and Aphrodite. Each contestant must take a white scroll. Six temples will be visited. At each temple, one team will be eliminated. The Oracle of Delphi will give them their first clue. The Oracle appears and begins a story about how the omphalos marks the center of the earth.

Chapter 5: Being Thetis
The first clue is “All with a single eye it can cry but only when it rains.” While Poseidon’s team talks over the clue, all of a sudden there’s an earthquake. A giant fist bursts through the floor and steals the omphaios. The Oracle then warns of a coming battle. “A hundred fighters will soon come. Beware.” There’s a debate over if they should continue. Athena wants to tell Zeus. Poseidon thinks they should continue.

Amphrite finds a pebble in her sandal, but it turns out to be a perfect golden pearl. She then solves the riddle and says an eye in the temple when it rains could reefer to making it look like the temple is crying. This temple is in Rome. So, they head for there.

Chapter 6: First Challenge
They arrive at the Pantheon. Zeus’s first challenge is to “Find the coffers. Count their rings. Times twenty eight minus the height of the Pantheon. Plus the width of the dome. No winged sandles allowed. Amphitrite explains that “coffers” are the square indentations in the dome. They count five rings of coffers. Each with twenty-eight squares. The height and width are the same. So, the answer is one hundred and forty. Poseidon’s team wins the first challenge. The next sestination is Uppsala Sweden. There’s another earthquake and a giant appears.

Chapter 7: Giant Trouble
The giants trap the students. Gia speaks through the omphalos. Gia informs everyone that she has contacted Zeus. She says she has one hundred sons. Five of them will join in the Temple Games as a new team. One of the teams will be removed. She chooses Iris’s team, claiming she wanted to quit earlier. As, the giants leave, t hey destroy all the chariots.

They arrive at Uppsala. There’s a strange evergreen tree that has nine marionette heads that talk. They can each answer one question. Then they vanish. One of the marionettes explains the next challenge. They have to pick up the ancient stone called the rune without touching the roof. Touching the roof turns you into a newst.

Amphitrite comes up with the idea to climb the tree, shoot magical arrows, and tightrope walk using a vide rope. Pheme distracts the giants. Poseidon is able to retrieve the rune. The rune reveals a message: “Go to the city that is not allowed.” From the marionetes they find out this is the Forbidden City in China. (The Temple of Heaven). Ares team is eliminated for bad sportsmanship. Zeus sends a magical snow that makes them all fall asleep

Chapter 8: More Challenges
“Thetis” notices the pattern that the temples are being lined up in a clockwise direction and guesses the remaining temples will be between China and Greece. They arrive at the Forbidden City. Inside the temple, their challenge is to perform a Chinese tea ceremony. They receive a tray with teapots, cuts, tea leaves, and tools. They then have to walk around the Forbidden City with tea balanced on their heads. Pandora is distracted, but Thetis gently coaches her. Poseidon realizes he’s been to hard on Pandora and starts to encourage her more. The gants win the challenge. The cups flit perfectly into the steam vents on their heads.


The next destination is India. The challenge is to multitask like Vishnu. They have to stand on one leg, tap their head, rub their stomach, nod, and more. The final four teams are Porhy, Athena, Apollo, and Posedon. The final challene is at the Pantheon.

Chapter 9: Baattle of the Giants
The giants beat everyone to the Parthenon. Zeus and Gaia announce that whoever wins the final challenge will control the omphalos and thus control the balance of the world. On the way to Greece, Amphrite discovers that the omphalos pearl has granted her wish. She can now stay shifted. Gaia announces that if her sons win, the Olympians will have to leave MOA. More giants arrive in droves and charge the students. Amphitrite and Persephone search for a herb that is heart-shaped with leaves that glow in the dark, but its impossible to spot in daylight.

With help from Helios, Athena is able to grab the herb, and the MOA team wins. Still, the battle continues between the students and the giants.

Chapter 10: Victory
Hercules and Poseidon come up with a plan to make a volcano. Hercules digs a massive pit around Porphy’s feet while Poseidon distracts him. Porphy then slips into the pit and is burried up to his steam. The others copy the tactic and bury them into new volcanoes. Poseidon knows he did the right thing to help Hercules, but still has mixed feelings if he’d helped Hercules and found the herb, his team would have won the games. He feels like he’s always second best, never first.

Poseidon tries to retrieve the omphalos from Porphy’s. She threatens to unbury her sons, but then notices that th e omphalos is missing. Xeus then blasts her underground. Zeus announces Athena’s team the winners of the Temple Games, but she corrects him and says that “Thetis” spotted the berb first, and because Posidon let Hercules take the victory. Zeus tho stands firm on his decision.

Zeus tells Poseidon tho he’s earned the honor of Olympus. A carving of Poseidon and Hercles battling Porphyrion will be placed in Athena’s new temple.

Chapter 11: Pearls
The omphalos rolls directly to Amphitrite and briefly considers plucking the pearls, but returns it to Zeus, She also returns the pearl she found earlier. Zeus checks the egg and finds none of the pearls are missing. All of a sudden, she becomes sick and has to be put back in the sea. Athena and Hercules then confirm that none of the pearls are missing from the egg. It’sdiscovered that once a pearl is plucked, another instantly grows in it’s place. Zeus allows Amphitrite to take some of the pearls back to her sisters.

Before she leaves for home, Hercules finds a clam shell to hold her pearls, Athena weaves her a swawee belt to hold the shell, and Poseidon makes her a necklace. She knows she should confess to everyone she isn’t Thetis but stays silent. Athena and Hercles leave and now she’s alone with Poseidon.

Chapter 12: Confidence
Posedion is watching Thetis swim away after they say their goodbyes. Delphinius tases Poseidon from “wimping out” and points out the obvious-he’s crushing on her. So, he jumps in the sea and starts to swim after her. He apologizes. She confesses who she really is. He laughs and tells her about the prophecy. She explains why she lied. He confesses he was pretending to. She tells him she thinks he has a good heart.

Chapter 13: Surprise
Amphitrite takes Poseidon to a golden undearwater palace and surprises him and says it was created over years by the sea creatures just for him. He tells her he’ll support her if she wants to go to MOA

Rating: 5 I didn’t really have a lot of thoughts for this one. I can’t even thin of a one. It happens sometimes you “run into” a book like that. It was cute, but not one of my favorites in the series.

[Briann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as an adult college student during finals week to relive childhood nostalgia. It was okay. Definitely would have been more fun to read as a child (oh, the good old days). It did distract me from the stress of finals for a bit, so that was fun.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was selected by my four year old daughter, who I'm sure picked it based on the cover. She seemed to like the story even though I'm sure that she didn't understand most of it. I found the effort to incorporate Greek mythology amusing, but not especially well done or clever. We haven't read any other books in the series, so maybe I'd be more appreciative of character development across books, but it's hard to say. This is definitely a book for young readers and a young audience with little crossover appeal to adults. The plot and characters are quite simple and emotions are told with very little nuance. But anything that engages kids in reading is a good thing.

[Hershey!16 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amphitrite the Bubbly is part of the Goddess Girls series by Joan Holub. The Goddess Girls books (including this book) are some of my favorite summer reads. The books in this series put a modern twist on Greek mythology to somewhat relate to young girls today. This particular book is about a young mermaid named Amphitrite who meets the Mount Olympus students on the adventure of a lifetime. I would recommend this book (or this series) to pretty much all young girls looking for quick reads of about 250-300 pages.

[Doni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I liked this book, especially because it figures Poseidon heavily and up until this book, he was my least favorite character in the series. But Amphitrite is such a nice character that she changes Poseidon for the positive. Great surprise, late in the game.

[QSTCMomma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this series with my 9 year old. They started out cute stories. Not overly well written but not terrible. Good plots for discussion with my daughter about friends and relationship issues and making good choices.

This book was not even decently well written and full of errors. The story line was pointless and the dialogue was painful.

I understand that once a series starts the authors need to crank out the next one quickly. But it would be better to stop than to put your name on such very poor work.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good Goddess Girl book, even if there was getting to be too many by this point. I like Amphitrite as a main character. She is nice, and this book was how I learned to pronounce her name properly. The best thing about this book, however, is Poseidon. This book manages to give him character development and make him seem less of a drip. Now he is a proper romantic match for Amphitrite, as per the myths. This is a fun book.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hoping that Poseidon would be given the chance to redeem hisself eventually! I’m not quite sure I completely agree with the ending (Amphitrite found the plant, Athena just picked it up), but the concept of teamwork being more important than individual gains still stands.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Simple. Perfect for middle school age

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really nice to read about mermaids for once!

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the book but I don't like how point of view is split between Amphitrite and Poseidon. I like the temple games. 💖

I 💖 MERMAIDS

[Birdie]

I'm obsessed with these books now.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute.

[Xein · Rating 3 out of 5]

i did obviously not relate to random version of poseidon whose efforts never seem to be valorated and cant let jokes slip becouse he feels attacked. it's just a middlegrade book. pfffff

[TheGryphonVera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah. This book.

I desperately wanted to love it. This was the first book I read after having revisited the series and I really wanted to get wrapped up in this book and this story and all of these familiar characters. Instead I was left feeling so bleeeeh about it? It was kind of nice to get all the warm nostalgia fuzzy feels from the story, but the story itself was just so boring and substanceless and pointless that it felt hard to truly enjoy. The fact that the main characters of the original story were so interesting and are not featured in this story were definitely one of the main reasons that this didn't work for me, but I also genuinely think somewhere along the way this series' writing got a little bit derailed and the characters all became sort of flat, which makes it a LOT harder to get truly interested and invested in the story. But obviously, nostalgic feels and familiar and sweet characters did prevent me from stop reading it altogether out of boredom.

[Linda Jaejoong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wir laden euch herzlich zu den Tempel Spielen der Mount Olympus Academy ein, der Hauptgewinn ist ein eigener Tempel. Ein Traum wird wahr für Poseidon er hat die Chance seinen eigenen Tempel zu bekommen, nur das ist einfacher gesagt als getan. Zunächst muss er dafür ein super Team zusammen stellen und die Meerjungfrau Thetis ist die perfekte Kandidatin für sein Sieger Team.

Was er nicht weiß ist das Thetis nicht Thetis ist, sondern ihre Zwillingsschwester Amphitrite. Sie möchte nur eins, endlich frei sein und die Welt entdecken. Ich mochte sie wirklich sehr, sie war sympatisch, witzig und zum knuddeln süß. Poseidon ist das genau Gegenteil, er ist eingebildet, egoistisch und nicht sehr freundlich.

Natürlich hatte Poseidon auch seine guten Momente, aber sie waren leider nicht oft, ich war ein wenig enttäuscht von ihm. Er war ja schon immer nicht sehr freundlich, aber er hätte sich doch ein wenig mehr Mühe geben können. Ansonsten war die Geschichte mal wieder super gut, sie war spannend, witzig und voller Action. Das Cover ist ein Traum, es ist von allen mein liebstes. Ich freue mich schon auf die nächste Geschichte!!

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but not my favorite. Although Amphitrite's portions are delightful; once Poseidon starts to have POV chapters it begins to drag; mostly because his only driving ambition is to Win a Temple from the Games Zeus is holding and he doesn't mind being a bit of a jerk to do so. Amphitrite has a lovely few scenes in her undersea world before becoming a legged land-version of a mermaid for the entire rest of the story. There's a contest to see which of 7 groups of 5 students (some from MOA and others chosen by the team captains from across the globe; mortal and non) can win a series of challenges and win their own temple! Poseidon chooses Amphitrite's sister but in a last-minute swap Amphitrite willingly takes her sister's place and the Games are Afoot. There are cute moments and a bit of danger when a rowdy group of Giants join the crowd but this one was sadly not the best overall; it lacked the charm of some earlier stories (mostly because Poseidon is a self-centered character and difficult to enjoy reading as a POV character) and I was bummed that the challenge ended up skipping what could have been a fun bit in Egypt to rush off to the finale in Greece.

[Narariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting addition to the Goddess Girls series, this story seems to have more than the usual amount of point-of-view of a godboy. Specifically Poseidon. I found the changes in PoV to be well-done and to add to the story. The book seems to include not only a moral as usual but also a gentle reminder of courtesy and its benefits. I liked the flaws in the characters and the fact that the main female character wasn't a goddessgirl, thus having fewer powers. I felt this gave her a chance to showcase other abilities not based on magic.

[Beenee Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cute book to keep me going between releases of my 'Must Have Now' books!

It really is amazing how Joan Holub is able to twist the classic myths into child friendly completely different stories! The great thing about these books (at least for me) is that the characters are (for the most part) in their early teen years and not only do they act like it, but throughout the series they have grown in a believable manner as people.

Can't wait to get my hands on the next book!

[Lilian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book! Even though this is a children's book I still like to read it because it's a nice twist on Greek mythology and the gods and goddesses!

So this one was interesting since it was mermaids in it so that was cool... Though Poseidon is described as a real jerk and I don't really like that way perceiving him.

Overall a good little mythology book, looking forward to the next one.

[Kelly Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of this character from Greek mythology; however, she is like the little mermaid in a way, except she has a lot more sisters. Just like the little mermaid, she wishes to live on land.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty fun and entertaining. It told the story of a mergirl named Amphritite who traveled to MOA to complete in the games.

I liked it, but since I enjoy reading Greek mythology, it got annoying reading the book because of how the actual mythology in the book was written.

[Ashley-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but I felt the ending was rushed. I didn't like that the Temple Games were ditched when the giants showed up, rather than paused and picked up again afterwards. And I still think Poseidon is a weenie.

[Kaytee · Rating 5 out of 5]

amphitrite is really pretty and i think poisiden was wrong and i think he is pretty selfish i should say even though i felt bad that he did not get his temple and i knew it was hard cause i am a sore loser.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing and I'm so glad that with as many books there are in this series that Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams have not lost their spark.

[Issa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is great! You really should do one on Thetis. (the real one!)