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Annie Lumsden, the Girl from the Sea
A solitary girl with a kinship for the sea makes a wondrous discovery in a tale of identity and belonging from master storyteller David Almond.
Annie Lumsden has hair that drifts like seaweed, eyes that shine like rock pools, and thoughts that dart and dance like minnows. She lives with her artist mother by the sea, where she feels utterly at home, and has long felt apart from the other girls at school. Words and numbers on the page don't make sense to her, and strange maladies have been springing up that the doctors can't explain. Annie's mother says that all things can be turned into tales, and often she tells her daughter stories about the rocks she paints like faces, or the smoke that wafts from chimneys, or who Annie's dad is. But one day Annie asks her mother for a different tale, something with better truth in it--and on that same day a stranger in town, drawn to the sight of a girl who seems akin to the sea, helps Annie understand how special she is. Featuring Beatrice Alemagna's expressive illustrations, this enchanting coming-of-age tale by the award-winning David Almond borrows from lore and flirts at the edges of mystery.
Annie Lumsden has hair that drifts like seaweed, eyes that shine like rock pools, and thoughts that dart and dance like minnows. She lives with her artist mother by the sea, where she feels utterly at home, and has long felt apart from the other girls at school. Words and numbers on the page don't make sense to her, and strange maladies have been springing up that the doctors can't explain. Annie's mother says that all things can be turned into tales, and often she tells her daughter stories about the rocks she paints like faces, or the smoke that wafts from chimneys, or who Annie's dad is. But one day Annie asks her mother for a different tale, something with better truth in it--and on that same day a stranger in town, drawn to the sight of a girl who seems akin to the sea, helps Annie understand how special she is. Featuring Beatrice Alemagna's expressive illustrations, this enchanting coming-of-age tale by the award-winning David Almond borrows from lore and flirts at the edges of mystery.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2020
2 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
David Almond
122 books824 followersDavid Almond is a British children's writer who has penned several novels, each one to critical acclaim. He was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. When he was young, he found his love of writing when some short stories of his were published in a local magazine. He started out as an author of adult fiction before finding his niche writing literature for young adults.
His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.
His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.
He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.
Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.
Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).
His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.
His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.
He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.
Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.
Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).
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September 23, 2021Can't rate, too metaphorical to satisfy me. When I was the age of the (supposed) target audience of this I loved The White Ring, but part of the reason I loved that slightly more straightforward but still enchantingly mysterious story is that I much preferred the artwork in that.
May 12, 2021
Annie Lumsden can’t focus on letters or numbers in school, and she quickly decides to simply leave. She finds pure joy and delight when she swims in the sea and lies on the rocks at the beach. It’s the stories of her mum and the coming of a stranger that helps Annie come to an understanding of where she came from and what she is that frees her to be fully herself.
The illustrations are beautiful and inviting, and what child doesn’t feel like she doesn’t really fit? I had a wee bit of trouble with the way Almond allowed Annie to suddenly be able to focus on letters and numbers after she understands her origins; I’d rather have Almond allowed that to slip away from her as unimportant, I think.
The illustrations are beautiful and inviting, and what child doesn’t feel like she doesn’t really fit? I had a wee bit of trouble with the way Almond allowed Annie to suddenly be able to focus on letters and numbers after she understands her origins; I’d rather have Almond allowed that to slip away from her as unimportant, I think.
May 13, 2021
David Almond gives readers beautiful, complex characters. I'm rarely sure they are real but perhaps are meant mostly as metaphors? Annie Lumsden, at thirteen, is perfectly content to live in a shack with her mother by the sea, listening to her mother's tales, telling us her own tale. She has not gone to school for a while, was asked to leave because she could not grasp the letters and numbers. There is a brief mention of other children mocking. Occasionally things happen like her legs weakening, collapsing. A kind doctor cannot discover why though he is supportive every time she comes to him? Her mother is loving, an artist who sells painted rocks and tells stories at the school. Things are rather normal until a man from America shows up and seems to know who Annie really is, how special she is. Is it about growing up? Is Annie's tale complex because all growing up is complex? I imagine every reader will have something different to answer. Beatrice Alemagna's illustrations help us see more of the tale, yet enhance the mystery, too.
Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy, first published by Walker Books.
Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy, first published by Walker Books.
May 11, 2022
As with most of Almond's stories, this is a tale whose liminality crosses between the reader asking what is and is not real and how much belief they have within and without in travelling between those spaces. At the centre of the liminal space, standing between sand and sea, myth and reality and school and home is Anne Lumsden who lives with her mum in the northeast of England.
Beset by seizures in her teenage years and mocked by her classmates for her learning difficulties, Annie has always felt like she does not fit in and feels closer to the sea and its denizens than people. Her mother, who is creative and caring and deeply loving, weaves stories around her daughter to make her happy and smile. One day, Annie wishes for a fantastical story of her birth and, asking her mum to make it magical, discovers that her heritage and home might be more mysterious than her mother was initially letting on.
A novella brimming with mystery and waves of questions and sumptuously illustrated by Alemagna, it is a tale that celebrates the fantasies and truths that stories can hold.
Beset by seizures in her teenage years and mocked by her classmates for her learning difficulties, Annie has always felt like she does not fit in and feels closer to the sea and its denizens than people. Her mother, who is creative and caring and deeply loving, weaves stories around her daughter to make her happy and smile. One day, Annie wishes for a fantastical story of her birth and, asking her mum to make it magical, discovers that her heritage and home might be more mysterious than her mother was initially letting on.
A novella brimming with mystery and waves of questions and sumptuously illustrated by Alemagna, it is a tale that celebrates the fantasies and truths that stories can hold.
August 1, 2022
I enjoyed this much more than the book I read by this author, beforehand (Joe Quinn's Poltergeist).
This story felt magical and gentle and was sweet to read.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
This story felt magical and gentle and was sweet to read.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
December 2, 2022
Annie is 13. I think this may be too mature for my 10 yr old grand.
Very magical. Good for someone who knows how babies are made. Being clear on the facts, we can be dreamy.... A happy story.
Very magical. Good for someone who knows how babies are made. Being clear on the facts, we can be dreamy.... A happy story.
February 13, 2024
It can be a fantasy, a coming-of-age story, or a work that deals with disability and prejudice, depending on how the reader takes it. Annie is the 13-year-old only child of a single mom. She used to go to school, but her friends called her stupid because she couldn't keep up, and her teachers eventually gave up on her. She also suffered from an illness that caused her to faint and collapse repeatedly, so she had to quit school.
But Annie is happy. She has her mom, who is always full of tales(not tails), and the sea by her side.
One day, Annie insists that her mom tell her the story of her real father, not the one she always tells her. Mommy begins to tell the story of her real father. The real one, who came up from the sea, had fins on his back, and webbed hands and feet. Just then, photographer Benn walks by and snaps a photo of Mom and Annie lying on the beach talking. In the photo, Annie somehow looks like a real mermaid. Maybe that's why she kept falling down in the water?
The strange thing is that after that, Annie stopped falling down. She was able to concentrate on her studies and was able to go back to school. How can we interpret all this?
That accepting yourself as you are is more important than anything else? That Annie might actually be the daughter of a mermaid? I don't know.
Whatever it is, how fortunate she is to be free, not only in the sea, but also on land.
Throughout the book, I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to make an Irish movie out of this story (even though the setting isn't Irish, and the author isn't Irish): a free-spirited mother who brings stones and shells she picks up from the beach to life with stories; a thirteen-year-old girl who doesn't fit in, but is as innocent as any child could be; a photographer who travels to capture the world's stories on camera; and the sea. (And lemonade and beer and songs.) Sounds like a perfect Irish movie, doesn't it?
But Annie is happy. She has her mom, who is always full of tales(not tails), and the sea by her side.
One day, Annie insists that her mom tell her the story of her real father, not the one she always tells her. Mommy begins to tell the story of her real father. The real one, who came up from the sea, had fins on his back, and webbed hands and feet. Just then, photographer Benn walks by and snaps a photo of Mom and Annie lying on the beach talking. In the photo, Annie somehow looks like a real mermaid. Maybe that's why she kept falling down in the water?
The strange thing is that after that, Annie stopped falling down. She was able to concentrate on her studies and was able to go back to school. How can we interpret all this?
That accepting yourself as you are is more important than anything else? That Annie might actually be the daughter of a mermaid? I don't know.
Whatever it is, how fortunate she is to be free, not only in the sea, but also on land.
Throughout the book, I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to make an Irish movie out of this story (even though the setting isn't Irish, and the author isn't Irish): a free-spirited mother who brings stones and shells she picks up from the beach to life with stories; a thirteen-year-old girl who doesn't fit in, but is as innocent as any child could be; a photographer who travels to capture the world's stories on camera; and the sea. (And lemonade and beer and songs.) Sounds like a perfect Irish movie, doesn't it?
May 29, 2021
I received this from Library Thing Early Readers.
Annie Lumsden isn’t like any of the kids at school. Words and numbers don’t make sense to her. But the sea…..that was what she knows.
She tries hard at school but can’t make a go of it. After mental tests and physical tests, it was determined Annie would be better to stay home and have a teacher come to her. This was fine with Annie, as it was just she and her mum who lived in a house on the shore of Stupor Beach.
Annie’s mum is an artist and tells wonderful tales and sings at The Slippery Eel. She can create tales from anything she sees. Magical tales about the sea and creatures and things found in and around it. Her art is made of seashells, rocks, driftwood and the like. She sells them at a local shop, and the monies from that and her singing support them.
The house and Stupor Shore beach is the only world Annie has known. Her time swimming in the sea, laying on the shore, watching the seagulls and listening to the sound all make up who Annie is.
Annie wants to know more about her father. Her mother has told her the story, but Annie thinks that it is just a story. The truth will explain why she is different and what the strong connection she has to the sea. That is what Annie wants to know.
The book is enjoyable in writing and in the art. The story tells of a girl who is different from other kids mentally and physically and knows it, but isn’t worried. She knows she is loved by her mother and has the same feelings towards her mother. The story brings this out.
The art, done in watercolour and coloured pencil, is rich in colour with a feeling of a coastal location. I find myself going back to enjoy the images and re-read bits of the story.
Annie Lumsden isn’t like any of the kids at school. Words and numbers don’t make sense to her. But the sea…..that was what she knows.
She tries hard at school but can’t make a go of it. After mental tests and physical tests, it was determined Annie would be better to stay home and have a teacher come to her. This was fine with Annie, as it was just she and her mum who lived in a house on the shore of Stupor Beach.
Annie’s mum is an artist and tells wonderful tales and sings at The Slippery Eel. She can create tales from anything she sees. Magical tales about the sea and creatures and things found in and around it. Her art is made of seashells, rocks, driftwood and the like. She sells them at a local shop, and the monies from that and her singing support them.
The house and Stupor Shore beach is the only world Annie has known. Her time swimming in the sea, laying on the shore, watching the seagulls and listening to the sound all make up who Annie is.
Annie wants to know more about her father. Her mother has told her the story, but Annie thinks that it is just a story. The truth will explain why she is different and what the strong connection she has to the sea. That is what Annie wants to know.
The book is enjoyable in writing and in the art. The story tells of a girl who is different from other kids mentally and physically and knows it, but isn’t worried. She knows she is loved by her mother and has the same feelings towards her mother. The story brings this out.
The art, done in watercolour and coloured pencil, is rich in colour with a feeling of a coastal location. I find myself going back to enjoy the images and re-read bits of the story.
June 13, 2021
Whenever I read a David Almond book (I’ve only read a few), I feel a little off kilter. I always feel like I’m not sure it’s really a kids’ book. Maybe they are really adult parables disguised as kids’ books. There are deceptive layers and messages that I’m not at all sure kids get or should get or are meant for kids to get. Annie Lumsden, the Girl from the Sea (illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna), is no exception to this. It’s an odd little story.
Annie isn’t like the other kids in school. Words and numbers don’t really make any sense to her. Some of the other children mock her, and she is asked to leave the school. She stays home with her mother, an artist, singer, and story teller, listening to the wonderful stories her mother tells her. She even tells Annie about the man who was her father, an odd man from the sea who was not quite human, who went back to the sea before she was born. Annie does things that seem more natural to her. Sometimes her legs weaken and collapse, but she can always swim in the sea and spend time lying on the beach. This is where she was happiest. A man from America comes to visit their town, to take pictures of the islands. He takes pictures of Annie and her mother. Annie’s mother asks if she can have one. And it is in that photograph that Annie sees the truth of herself.
David
David Almond has written a strange little tale full of mystery and fantasy and dreams. The gorgeous illustrations by Beatrice Alemagna have an ethereal quality that is perfect for this otherworldly tale. The writing is beautiful and the story is different from anything else one might find in middle-grade books. This is a book to be experienced rather than read. I received a copy of this book from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review.
Annie isn’t like the other kids in school. Words and numbers don’t really make any sense to her. Some of the other children mock her, and she is asked to leave the school. She stays home with her mother, an artist, singer, and story teller, listening to the wonderful stories her mother tells her. She even tells Annie about the man who was her father, an odd man from the sea who was not quite human, who went back to the sea before she was born. Annie does things that seem more natural to her. Sometimes her legs weaken and collapse, but she can always swim in the sea and spend time lying on the beach. This is where she was happiest. A man from America comes to visit their town, to take pictures of the islands. He takes pictures of Annie and her mother. Annie’s mother asks if she can have one. And it is in that photograph that Annie sees the truth of herself.
David
David Almond has written a strange little tale full of mystery and fantasy and dreams. The gorgeous illustrations by Beatrice Alemagna have an ethereal quality that is perfect for this otherworldly tale. The writing is beautiful and the story is different from anything else one might find in middle-grade books. This is a book to be experienced rather than read. I received a copy of this book from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review.
May 29, 2023
Extremely beautiful 5 star illustrations from Beatrice Alemagna and a story that's probably more interesting to adults than children.
Annie Lumsden has learning difficulties and seizures. She always felt different from other children and her mum makes up a tale to help her explain this.
Parts were enjoyable, I felt uncomfortable for Annie, who didn't know her father, her mum has other relationships during the story. The story seems to focus on her mum having brief relationships with men she has only just met, I don't know how well this fitted in to a magical tale. One of these relationships felt a bit creepy or potentially worrying this felt uncomfortable for Annie and although he seemed nice enough when he leaves the next day it felt like an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation to put herself and her daughter in.
I didn't like that this character (like an other character I can think of from Almonds fiction) is home educated because she has 'problems'. It perpetuates the stereotypes that home educated children face. With the other home educated character in his work, it is said that problems they have are attributed to being home educated, rather than the fact they had difficulties in the first place.
2 stars for the story but certainly worth looking at for the beautiful illustrations.
Annie Lumsden has learning difficulties and seizures. She always felt different from other children and her mum makes up a tale to help her explain this.
Parts were enjoyable, I felt uncomfortable for Annie, who didn't know her father, her mum has other relationships during the story. The story seems to focus on her mum having brief relationships with men she has only just met, I don't know how well this fitted in to a magical tale. One of these relationships felt a bit creepy or potentially worrying this felt uncomfortable for Annie and although he seemed nice enough when he leaves the next day it felt like an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation to put herself and her daughter in.
I didn't like that this character (like an other character I can think of from Almonds fiction) is home educated because she has 'problems'. It perpetuates the stereotypes that home educated children face. With the other home educated character in his work, it is said that problems they have are attributed to being home educated, rather than the fact they had difficulties in the first place.
2 stars for the story but certainly worth looking at for the beautiful illustrations.
August 17, 2021
Like all of David Almond’s stories, the tale of Annie Lumsden, the girl from the sea, is a touch strange, but with an underlying sweetness. Annie is a touch strange herself, finding school a challenge, but finding solace in seemingly having more in common with the creatures who live in the sea near which she makes her home. Narrating her own story, Annie’s language is full of ocean-inspired imagery as she describes herself and her surroundings, immediately leading the reader to understand Annie’s innate difference from the regular world. Annie seems to struggle to truly tell her own story, though, as she is just a child seeing the world with limited understanding, but when her mother tells her an extraordinary tale regarding Annie’s inception her truth begins to unravel. Whether Annie is a creature from the sea is undecided by the end of the tale (photographic evidence seems to prove the case, yet her doctors seem to think otherwise), but that doesn’t seem to matter to Annie, her mother, or to us readers. She has found an explanation that makes sense to her about her weird and wonderful nature, one which her widely open child’s imagination reckons is a truth more true than simple modern viewpoints.
August 3, 2020
A dream-like tale from one of the most magnificent storytellers of our times, this is a story of a very unique girl with gentle references to dyslexia and difference. Annie herself is a wonderful character, loaded with feeling and curiosity about the world, its' stories and most of all, herself. It's gently rolling text reveals the tale of her origins and guides her with comfort to understanding her identity. The exquisite illustrations wrap themselves around and through the book, teasing the rhythm and texture onto the page.Annie Lumsden... reads like a fable and easily becomes part of the readers consciousness, causing a shift in perception (much like many of Almonds' other books and in particular, Skellig.) It is haunting, ebbing and flowing like the tides that create it. Gently humourous, astoundingly insightful and utterly enchanting; Almond never disappoints and this is one not to miss..at any age.
June 16, 2021
Annie Lumsden is 13 years old and she hasn't been to school for a while, she isn't like most other children at school. Her hair seems to float like seaweed as she move about, her thoughts seems to drift to the wonders of the sea. Since she has trouble confusing her letters and her numbers, her artist mother teaches Annie from their little beach house by the sea. Annie loves listening to all of her mother's stories about her artwork but, her favorite tales by far are ones about the sea. One day, it's a stranger that is new to the area who helps Annie to understand how special she really is,
I loved that this story features a girl who is different from her peers but, she isn't overwhelmed by her differences and rather in a good place it seems. I loved the relationship she had with her mother who was so supportive of her daughter's uniqueness and her creature-of-the-sea qualities. A good store and positive message and lovely illustrations that add to the mystery within the story.
I loved that this story features a girl who is different from her peers but, she isn't overwhelmed by her differences and rather in a good place it seems. I loved the relationship she had with her mother who was so supportive of her daughter's uniqueness and her creature-of-the-sea qualities. A good store and positive message and lovely illustrations that add to the mystery within the story.
April 30, 2025
Annie Lumsden. La niña del mar, de David Almond
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Annie piensa, siente y aprende de una forma distinta. Vive con su madre junto al mar, escucha las piedras, se mueve con el ritmo de las olas y no necesita explicaciones para saberse entera. Su diferencia no le pesa, hasta que el juicio del mundo aparece: la escuela, las etiquetas, las risas ajenas.
Este libro no busca normalizarla ni definirla, sino sostener su singularidad. Me ha emocionado por su mirada delicada, por una maternidad que no impone ni corrige, y por esa forma de narrar que no empuja a cambiar, solo a estar.
Las ilustraciones de Beatrice Alemagna no acompañan: respiran con ella.
Una lectura serena, sin estridencias, que deja espacio para ser.
Puedes leer mi reseña completa aquí: https://www.libreriaastrid.com/notici...
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Annie piensa, siente y aprende de una forma distinta. Vive con su madre junto al mar, escucha las piedras, se mueve con el ritmo de las olas y no necesita explicaciones para saberse entera. Su diferencia no le pesa, hasta que el juicio del mundo aparece: la escuela, las etiquetas, las risas ajenas.
Este libro no busca normalizarla ni definirla, sino sostener su singularidad. Me ha emocionado por su mirada delicada, por una maternidad que no impone ni corrige, y por esa forma de narrar que no empuja a cambiar, solo a estar.
Las ilustraciones de Beatrice Alemagna no acompañan: respiran con ella.
Una lectura serena, sin estridencias, que deja espacio para ser.
Puedes leer mi reseña completa aquí: https://www.libreriaastrid.com/notici...
May 18, 2021
I'm a bit at a loss for what to say about this story, because I'm not really sure what happened. I can tell you for sure that I enjoyed it quite a bit- it's magical, like a folk tale, and you can't really be sure the magic isn't real. It's dreamy and dreamlike, and there are dreams in the story, but are they dreams, or are they memories? It's sweet, a bit odd, and pretty much confusing, but confusing in a good way. The illustrations throughout add to the quirky, not quite real is this a dream? quality, and I'm not sure how I feel about the ending yet, but I will read this again, and love it again. I know young me would've adored this book! This won't be a book for everyone; it's not tidy, it leaves you pondering, but I hope all who will love this little gem will find it.
January 9, 2022
"They say it's cold here, especially the water, but I know nothing else, so it isn't cold to me." (p. 5)
"'Where've you been, my little swimmer?' I'd tell her I'd been far away beneath the sea to places of coral and shells and beautifully colored fish, and she'd smile and smile to hear the words loosened from my tongue as I told my traveling tales. At first, Mum was scared that I would fall and lose myself when I was in the water, and that I would drown and be taken from her, but we came to know that it did not, and would never, happen, for in the water I am truly as I am -- Annie Lumsden, seal girl, fish girl, dolphin girl, the girl who cannot drown." (p. 19)
"I looked into my mother's eyes. What did I see there? The delight of memories or the delight of her imaginings?" (p. 32)
"'Where've you been, my little swimmer?' I'd tell her I'd been far away beneath the sea to places of coral and shells and beautifully colored fish, and she'd smile and smile to hear the words loosened from my tongue as I told my traveling tales. At first, Mum was scared that I would fall and lose myself when I was in the water, and that I would drown and be taken from her, but we came to know that it did not, and would never, happen, for in the water I am truly as I am -- Annie Lumsden, seal girl, fish girl, dolphin girl, the girl who cannot drown." (p. 19)
"I looked into my mother's eyes. What did I see there? The delight of memories or the delight of her imaginings?" (p. 32)
August 7, 2024
I’m not totally sure that I got this book. It seems like on the one hand it is a story about a girl who has epilepsy and learning challenges who lives in the UK somewhere by the ocean with her storytelling mom. And her mom is really excellent at spinning normal things into tales…so this little book is a semi-magical look at their lives. The illustrations are beautiful. I just get a bit disoriented in books when I’m not really sure what is going on. The teenager had a semi-mystical connection to the ocean.
March 28, 2023
I always think I'll really love David Almond's books, and then I don't quite understand them enough.
An origin tale of a young girl Annie, who may have come from the sea. She doesn't fit in at school, she has falls, is a mystery to medicine, and she may be "daft". Her mother may or may not have had relations with an American stranger, or exchanged shells with a fish/man, all a bit The Shape of Water at times.
Beautifully illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna.
An origin tale of a young girl Annie, who may have come from the sea. She doesn't fit in at school, she has falls, is a mystery to medicine, and she may be "daft". Her mother may or may not have had relations with an American stranger, or exchanged shells with a fish/man, all a bit The Shape of Water at times.
Beautifully illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2021
This book wasn't circulating at my library, so I wanted to know why. It's not an early chapter book, even though it's short and there's beautiful illustrations. It's a cute short story - very whimsical! Gives me a little bit of a Luca vibe (the Pixar movie). It would be a fun read-aloud with a classroom or kids.
May 18, 2022
I am such a fan of Almond's writing! I recently have gained more free time and decided that I would catch up with all of his books that I hadn't read yet.
This lovely little book is short, and illustrated, but more like a longish short story for kids. The story is about a girl who cannot seem to learn. Some changes occur in her life that turn that situation around. Delightful and memorable.
This lovely little book is short, and illustrated, but more like a longish short story for kids. The story is about a girl who cannot seem to learn. Some changes occur in her life that turn that situation around. Delightful and memorable.
January 4, 2025
3.5 ⭐
Reading this felt like a dream.
Never really sure of what is real, or if it's all a metaphor for something deeper.
I do feel like the cover is misleading, and I might have recommended it to the wrong type of student if I hadn't taken the time to read it.
The ending is lovely, but I was still left wondering...is she really a girl from the sea?
Reading this felt like a dream.
Never really sure of what is real, or if it's all a metaphor for something deeper.
I do feel like the cover is misleading, and I might have recommended it to the wrong type of student if I hadn't taken the time to read it.
The ending is lovely, but I was still left wondering...is she really a girl from the sea?
September 7, 2020
A mysterious yarn on a girl with fainting spells, woven amidst her mother's own tales of love and loss. A tale that would certainly appeal to the bohemian spirit.
October 6, 2020
Such a beautiful imagination - I love David Almond’s tales of love and discovery.
Want to read
April 3, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
August 20, 2021
An absolutely quirky, fantastical book full of sweetness and love. Mom's allowed to have a sex life, Annie's allowed to be who she is, and Dad may or may not be a sea creature. Lovely.
August 27, 2021
3.5
This was good, though very strange. I'm not sure what kid to recommend it to, but I did enjoy the fairytale nature and illustrations of it.
This was good, though very strange. I'm not sure what kid to recommend it to, but I did enjoy the fairytale nature and illustrations of it.
December 23, 2021
This short chapter book is charming, and the illustrations by Beatrice Alemagna are sooo dreamy. The story is quirky, and I love the way it ends.
July 21, 2022
I love Almond's otherworldly stories, full of strangeness celebrated and the magic of the natural world. This one fits that bill!
October 12, 2022
gives readers beautiful, complex characters, a good story with metaphor.
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