Maynard's Mermaid

Serendipity

by Robin James (Author & Illustrator), Stephen Cosgrove

A young dragon, Maynard, makes friends with the mermaid he sees when he looks over the side of the boat, but all the other dragons see when they look for her is Maynard's reflection.

Genres: Childrens, Dragons, Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Robin James, gifted illustrator of the bestselling Serendipity books, was born into a family of artists. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Robin has loved art and animals all her life and has been drawing ever since she could hold a pencil. Through the years, she has done a wide variety of artwork from animal portraits to wildlife paintings and is perhaps most recognised for her children’s book illustrations which she began in 1973. She has illustrated over 75 children’s books, and is published worldwide.

At home on MorningStar Ranch & Gallery in picturesque Snohomish, Washington, one quickly spots Robin’s enormous love of animals and nature that is so evident in her illustrations. Not surprisingly, she and her husband, Randy, live with a happy menagerie of animals - all of whom have inspired her illustrations including Allie and Puppy, both rescued greyhounds, two cats, four horses and a flock of pet chickens!

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as I know, this was the first of only two books in the long-running Serendipity series that was written by illustrator Robin James, and not the usual author, Stephen Cosgrove. The other book was Butterwings.

Too bad James didn't write more Serendipity books, because this one was pretty good -- much better than average. It was also pretty deep for a Serendipity book, dealing with the friendship of a lonely juvenile dragon and a mermaid.

There isn't a conclusive ending, so the reader can choose whether the friendship was real or imagined.

Although the book's moral touts that your best friend is yourself, the real moral of the story is, "Family sucks."

The art is excellent for a kid's book, with little details fun to catch. The mother dragon has on a diamond ring. There's also a teapot in the dragon family lair. The mermaid's tail has green scales that match Maynard's.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of my new favorites. This story is about the littlest dragon of a family who finds that no one has time for him even when they say they will. And so he finds a mermaid to be his friend while spending all his time with her even though his mother says mermaids don't exist.

It's a beautiful story that shows you are never alone if you can trust yourself and I love how his mother doesn't reprimand him or put him down but accepts his friend even though she can't see him. A beautiful book and one to enjoy reading over and over.