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“Minnow” Vail
A coming-of-age novel set in a small town on the Southern California coast.
- GenresYoung Adult
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 10, 2020
If it were being written today, the heroine would be sporting sky-blue mermaid hair that wouldn't be a wig! :)
August 17, 2022
My favorite book when I was young. I still have my copy from when I was in the 8th grade. What a wonderful story full of wearing lipstick for the first time, having a crush on a boy, your first kiss, and falling in love for the first time. Looked it up here on a whim, but if you can find it, read it!!
June 22, 2010
Loved this one when I was growing up! A $.79 Whitman hardcover. I remember Minnow babysitting for a little boy who liked to brush his teeth. He called it "mushing me choppers". The phrase stuck with me all these years and I use it when I'm getting ready for bed!
September 15, 2016
Re-read June 2013.
Re-read September 2016.
Re-read September 2016.
September 9, 2012
One of my favourite Books from my Teens in the early 70's don't know how many time I reread it during those formative Years.
October 9, 2012
A really old fashioned but poignant tale of a girl who dreams of being a mermaid but always ends up a grunion....Another Whitman goodie.
February 2, 2020
What I remember about this book: girl saving a bird caught in a net on the beach, girl getting her picture painted, girls cousin visiting and wearing a bunch of petticoat to school, boy bailing on girl for cousin. That's it. I also recall not finding it too special but I gave it 4 stars on GoodReads so I guess I'm not sure.
As this book starts out we find Minna Vail, who people call Minnow because of her small frame, down on the beach one winter evening. She's gone there to sulk over being asked to be a Grunion in Carnival Of The Sea, a local yearly event. However what Minna really wants is to be one of the Mermaids aka beauty queens. She's 15 and feels it's time for her to start being seen as a woman but understands the difficulty in this because of her flat chest and old fashion father who refuses to let her wear makeup or perfume.
The next day at school Minna befriends a Dutch foreign exchange student and, after finding out he's staying with an uptight elderly couple, makes an attempt to help him fit in more and give him a normal American teenager experience. She asks Bob, a longtime friend, to invite Hans to the beach on Saturday which is where all the kids go. After a little roughhousing Hans is accepted by the boys and later Minna invites him over for dinner, afterwards he teaches her how to Tango. Minna's parents take a big liking to Hans since they very much miss their son who is away at college and Hans enjoys being in a family's home rather than the elderly couple he stays with.
During this time Minna's best friend, Laura, goes on her first real date. While visiting an aunt in Palm Springs she gets set up on a blind date with a boy and receives her first kiss while decked out in her aunts black sheath dress, rhinestone jewelry, and mink stole. Minna feels childlike compared to her friend so she decided to do something womanly of her own; perform the Tango with Hans at the Friday afternoon dance. It goes over well with everyone except Laura who is mad Minna hadn't let her in on her secret plan. Laura and Minna don't talk for several days but after Laura disappears from school for a week and no one at Laura's home answers the phone, she heads over to check on things. At the door she is greeted by Laura's father who tells Minna that Laura has a serious case of Polio and isn't expected to live. Laura is unvaccinated because she didn't want to get a shot so her parents didn't force it. However the next morning we get news that her condition has improved a little.
It's now Easter break and the town is dreading the arrival of the "Easter bunnies" which is what they call the out of town kids who come to spend their vacation partying at the beach. One of the Easter bunnies is Minna's cousin Lucia who stops at the Vail house to inform her Aunt and Uncle that she's only checking in because her father thinks she's staying with them. Lucia is Mr. Vails worst nightmare; she has bleach blonde hair, heavy mascara, reeks of perfume, and is accompanied by ill-mannered boys.
You can read the rest of the summary on my blog, vintagegirlsbooks.blogspot.com
- Minna's best friend Laura has her own telephone which Mr. Vail thinks is absolutely ridiculous, remarking "I suppose the next thing the Adams will do is get a phone for their dog". I found his attitude really funny.
- Laura nonchalantly mentions that she gets paid a dollar for every half a pound she loses. This seems...odd.
- Minna is always making observations which just seem weird. Like when she's on the beach looking at the sea and think it will be here after people are gone, when she stands outside her house and acknowledged that it has character, when she sits in her fathers lap before the fire and thinks how cozy her home is, when she sees her parents joke with each other at the dinner table and realizes they're people and "lovers". Its just weird and clearly for the benefit of the reader but it comes off so awkward because this is Minna's everyday life and there's no reason for her to be acknowledging these things for the first time. Its not like any eye opening event has happened yet to make her see things in a new perspective, were only on chapter three.
- Its not until chapter 3 that were told Minna has an older brother in college. That seemed kinda weird not to mention when were introduced to her parents.
- While Hans is over at the Vails for dinner he "matter-of-factly" mentions that his father was killed in a concentration camp. It just thrown so suddenly into the dialogue that I stopped in shock for a minute.
- Mr. Adams announcement that Laura has Polio and isn't expected to live is so sudden that at first I thought he was joking.
- On page 99 Mr. Adams is mistakenly called Mr. Vail. Second book I've read in a row that had that kind of mistake.
- Mrs. Vail comforts Minna about the possibility of Laura dying by saying there's fate worse than death, Laura might live and be a cripple....uhm really? I think most crippled people would disagree.
You can read the rest of this review on my blog, vintagegirlsbooks.blogspot.com
You can see all the art work for this book and many others on my Pinterest.com/nancydrewart
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August 1, 2014
Dated dialog, but the plot still holds up, even if we take a more guarded view of childhood now than then. It was interesting for me to revisit this, after living in that same area of California for a number of years as an adult, having previously read it when I was 9 or 10.
May 4, 2020
Excellent story. Wish there was a sequel.
September 1, 2025
“Tonight, the show was an unusually spectacular one, and for many miles the ocean was alight with what Minna liked to call ‘fairy flotillas.’ It was an eerie night, a magical one, the cold green luminosity of ‘witch-fire’ upon every ripple, banding every wave as it arched and tumbled.”
Minna Vail, looking out over her ocean.
As I read the opening page of this story, I saw Minna Vail, walking along her favorite place of refuge, the deserted stretch of beach that was within easy walking distance of her home. She says she’s beachcombing, but I couldn’t imagine that she was doing a very good job of it, at least in the beginning, (more on that later).
The beach, we learn, is a place of sanctuary for her, a place of refuge, she says, from people in general, then later, from one person in particular, a certain Mrs. Latham.
As we become privy to Minna’s thoughts, we learn that it was Mrs. Latham who’d placed a phone call, earlier that day, to Minna, informing her that she was, once again, to be cast as a Grunion character in her hometown Carnival parade.
And it was the memory of that phone call that caused resentment to surge through Minna. She was, after all, coming sixteen, and should no longer be thought of as a “small fry,” but rather a mature young woman, one who would be more appropriately cast as a mermaid.
I found this opening page to be quite atmospheric, and as I read it, I could literally imagine this spirited girl, perhaps wearing a fisherman’s sweater vest and a pair of denim clamdiggers, her loafer-clad feet making little dents in the sand as she strode along. She’s deep in her gloomy thoughts, and while she claims to be beachcombing, an activity that requires a keen eye and concentrated mind, she is probably accomplishing little more than throwing pebbles into the water, absentmindedly watching them skip off the surface. She might also, I imagine, kicking stray pieces of driftwood out of her walking path.
And even as I say this, it is important to mention that after reading only one page, (actually it was a half-page, since this was a “half-title” page) of this story, I was already engaged, my imagination ignited, and in my opinion, that’s always a good sign as to the prospect of a story being a good one.
By the second page, however, we see a change in Minna, as her anger and disappointment start to abate the longer she is mesmerized by the “muffled roaring of the mighty Pacific,” and the act of rescuing a cast of little crabs that had become stranded by the tide, “the poor things had a right to survive” she thought to herself as she gently picked them up one by one.
As I read the first chapter, I enjoyed the account of a teenager as she loses herself in the magic of her favorite place, the southern California coastline near her home, the one she’d come to love so much.
As I read this, my mind drifted from Minna’s world into my own, as I reflected on my own places of refuge, the places that I always love visiting, the places that have that certain magical power to lift my spirits every time!
Like Minna, I love spending time at the beach, and I can see how the natural wonder of a place such as this could be a kind of elixir, a sufficiently powerful one to elevate her spirits, upward from despondency to delight.
But as much as I love a beautiful sandy beach, or a dramatically rugged coastline, I don’t happen to live anywhere near such places, so I look for retreats that are locally available to me.
And for me, those are secondhand bookstores.
As a matter of fact, I found this very title in such a shop I discovered in downtown Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Unlike Minna, I was not initially discouraged when I entered the shop, (I was halfway through a wonderful vacation), but even though our situations were dissimilar in that way, I could imagine that if I had walked into that store in a downtrodden state of mind, that the power of being surrounded by thousands of handsome books, all containing enchanting stories, combined with the muffled conversations of clerks and customers, and tantalizing scent of old paper, would all together, be more than enough to raise me out of any gloom that might’ve been hanging over my head as I walked in through the front doors.
At any rate, after reading the first few pages of this story, I already felt myself pulled into Minna’s seaside, southern California home.
I wanted to read more about Minna and the atmosphere of the ocean, and the charm of the town she lived in. I wanted to know if she did indeed become a Mermaid in her local carnival as it seemed she’d be perfectly suited to play the role of a mythical aquatic creature, based on her passion for the ocean.
I was looking forward to diving into this story, and by the end, I was so glad I did, after all, I encountered so many delightful situations, here were a few of my highlights:
First off, in some ways I found myself relating to Minna, in one example, she was cleaning her room, a chore forced upon her by her mother on Saturdays when she thought about something her mother had demanded of her.
She had to clean up a pile of magazines that was building up in the corner of her room, “Mother had put her foot down and said that I absolutely must throw some of them away; they were getting to be a disorganized mess in that stack in the corner. But how on earth could a girl tell which ones she could consent to dump out unless she checked through every one?”
That is exactly how I would feel if I were in this same situation, as I dislike any possibility that I might inadvertently throw away something I would want to read later if I were to just toss the magazines out without properly looking through them first.
Also, on another occasion, I found myself relating to Minna as she admitted that it took her forever to purchase a greeting card because she had to read many of them before choosing. I’ve been guilty of taking more than most people when choosing a greeting card, so I related right away when I read this!
Also, I delighted in a tender father-daughter Pelican rescue scene, I was enchanted by the idea of the “floating powder-blue dress” that was a magical hit for one of Minna’s friends who was out on a date, I laughed out loud at Minna’s description of the cluster of girl groups assembled on the beach as “like she-seals in a rookery,” and I was heartened by the scene where Minna makes a bacon and egg breakfast for her friend’s dad, who finds himself alone at home, his daughter gravely ill in hospital, and his wife tending to her. Lastly, I was enchanted by the scenes of Minna as she sat for her “Mermaid Portraits.”
There were so many more I could mention, but instead, I’ll encourage you to read this charming and enchanting story of a girl navigating the journey of adolescence.
Minna Vail, looking out over her ocean.
As I read the opening page of this story, I saw Minna Vail, walking along her favorite place of refuge, the deserted stretch of beach that was within easy walking distance of her home. She says she’s beachcombing, but I couldn’t imagine that she was doing a very good job of it, at least in the beginning, (more on that later).
The beach, we learn, is a place of sanctuary for her, a place of refuge, she says, from people in general, then later, from one person in particular, a certain Mrs. Latham.
As we become privy to Minna’s thoughts, we learn that it was Mrs. Latham who’d placed a phone call, earlier that day, to Minna, informing her that she was, once again, to be cast as a Grunion character in her hometown Carnival parade.
And it was the memory of that phone call that caused resentment to surge through Minna. She was, after all, coming sixteen, and should no longer be thought of as a “small fry,” but rather a mature young woman, one who would be more appropriately cast as a mermaid.
I found this opening page to be quite atmospheric, and as I read it, I could literally imagine this spirited girl, perhaps wearing a fisherman’s sweater vest and a pair of denim clamdiggers, her loafer-clad feet making little dents in the sand as she strode along. She’s deep in her gloomy thoughts, and while she claims to be beachcombing, an activity that requires a keen eye and concentrated mind, she is probably accomplishing little more than throwing pebbles into the water, absentmindedly watching them skip off the surface. She might also, I imagine, kicking stray pieces of driftwood out of her walking path.
And even as I say this, it is important to mention that after reading only one page, (actually it was a half-page, since this was a “half-title” page) of this story, I was already engaged, my imagination ignited, and in my opinion, that’s always a good sign as to the prospect of a story being a good one.
By the second page, however, we see a change in Minna, as her anger and disappointment start to abate the longer she is mesmerized by the “muffled roaring of the mighty Pacific,” and the act of rescuing a cast of little crabs that had become stranded by the tide, “the poor things had a right to survive” she thought to herself as she gently picked them up one by one.
As I read the first chapter, I enjoyed the account of a teenager as she loses herself in the magic of her favorite place, the southern California coastline near her home, the one she’d come to love so much.
As I read this, my mind drifted from Minna’s world into my own, as I reflected on my own places of refuge, the places that I always love visiting, the places that have that certain magical power to lift my spirits every time!
Like Minna, I love spending time at the beach, and I can see how the natural wonder of a place such as this could be a kind of elixir, a sufficiently powerful one to elevate her spirits, upward from despondency to delight.
But as much as I love a beautiful sandy beach, or a dramatically rugged coastline, I don’t happen to live anywhere near such places, so I look for retreats that are locally available to me.
And for me, those are secondhand bookstores.
As a matter of fact, I found this very title in such a shop I discovered in downtown Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Unlike Minna, I was not initially discouraged when I entered the shop, (I was halfway through a wonderful vacation), but even though our situations were dissimilar in that way, I could imagine that if I had walked into that store in a downtrodden state of mind, that the power of being surrounded by thousands of handsome books, all containing enchanting stories, combined with the muffled conversations of clerks and customers, and tantalizing scent of old paper, would all together, be more than enough to raise me out of any gloom that might’ve been hanging over my head as I walked in through the front doors.
At any rate, after reading the first few pages of this story, I already felt myself pulled into Minna’s seaside, southern California home.
I wanted to read more about Minna and the atmosphere of the ocean, and the charm of the town she lived in. I wanted to know if she did indeed become a Mermaid in her local carnival as it seemed she’d be perfectly suited to play the role of a mythical aquatic creature, based on her passion for the ocean.
I was looking forward to diving into this story, and by the end, I was so glad I did, after all, I encountered so many delightful situations, here were a few of my highlights:
First off, in some ways I found myself relating to Minna, in one example, she was cleaning her room, a chore forced upon her by her mother on Saturdays when she thought about something her mother had demanded of her.
She had to clean up a pile of magazines that was building up in the corner of her room, “Mother had put her foot down and said that I absolutely must throw some of them away; they were getting to be a disorganized mess in that stack in the corner. But how on earth could a girl tell which ones she could consent to dump out unless she checked through every one?”
That is exactly how I would feel if I were in this same situation, as I dislike any possibility that I might inadvertently throw away something I would want to read later if I were to just toss the magazines out without properly looking through them first.
Also, on another occasion, I found myself relating to Minna as she admitted that it took her forever to purchase a greeting card because she had to read many of them before choosing. I’ve been guilty of taking more than most people when choosing a greeting card, so I related right away when I read this!
Also, I delighted in a tender father-daughter Pelican rescue scene, I was enchanted by the idea of the “floating powder-blue dress” that was a magical hit for one of Minna’s friends who was out on a date, I laughed out loud at Minna’s description of the cluster of girl groups assembled on the beach as “like she-seals in a rookery,” and I was heartened by the scene where Minna makes a bacon and egg breakfast for her friend’s dad, who finds himself alone at home, his daughter gravely ill in hospital, and his wife tending to her. Lastly, I was enchanted by the scenes of Minna as she sat for her “Mermaid Portraits.”
There were so many more I could mention, but instead, I’ll encourage you to read this charming and enchanting story of a girl navigating the journey of adolescence.
December 27, 2019
I only bought this book because of the mermaid on the front hence I was very curious as to the sea forth adventures perhaps hidden inside? Hoping I would read tales of a young girl with a deeply seated mermaid heart experiencing the ocean in a myriad of aquatically laced encounters, I was sorely mistaken. There were only about ten pages fulfilling my wish. The remaining were about the dopey lives of 1950-60s teenagers carpooling to the movies to spy on the hunky neighbor, George, etc. As a side note, I fully comprehend today’s teens are exponentially worse in contrast only; no comparison. Also, the author doesn’t fail to remind us all of the holocaust in the midst of this popcorn novel. She also mentioned the word sex which felt inappropriate and jarringly unnecessary to the story.
The first few pages entice you to feel as though it’s going to be a regaling read about a young lady’s connection to the sea. The author was capable of making it happen however decided differently probably to meet the needs of the publisher. Who knows?
I longed to become lost in the charm of vintage Laguna Beach, California and Her coastlines. The first few pages will tease you, followed by disappointment. This book will only be used as a display prop amongst my seashells. If you fancy old teen novels from this decade, I found the Barbie hardcovers to be far more satisfying as well as a bit of an elixir in recording life once in a far better time.
The first few pages entice you to feel as though it’s going to be a regaling read about a young lady’s connection to the sea. The author was capable of making it happen however decided differently probably to meet the needs of the publisher. Who knows?
I longed to become lost in the charm of vintage Laguna Beach, California and Her coastlines. The first few pages will tease you, followed by disappointment. This book will only be used as a display prop amongst my seashells. If you fancy old teen novels from this decade, I found the Barbie hardcovers to be far more satisfying as well as a bit of an elixir in recording life once in a far better time.
June 28, 2019
Yet another vintage teen fiction gem by an author I’d never heard of until I was arrested by the book’s cover in some antique store at least a decade ago. Minna’s trek(s) along the seashore border on being tedious reading at points, I’m sure only because I don’t have the personal experience that allows me to relate well to those descriptive passages. That is the only negative I find. This chronicle of a young girl’s romantic angst, all connected with a personal goal others try to talk her out of, is “spot on” encouragement to teen girls finding themselves at that awkward/sweet place of wishing for their first kiss. The surrounding story has you rooting for the underdog, respecting her personal standards, and learning about cultural barriers that become gates rather than staying fences.
June 6, 2019
I’m not really a fan of “coming of age” stories but being from so long ago and with the beach and a mermaid on the cover is was hooked. Pun intended. It’s fascinating to see what coming of age looked like 50yrs ago. I like that the main character seemed her age because nowadays the teens in books seem to be much more mature than really necessary. I indexed two places that involved the ocean, and I absolutely love how the author described scenes involving it and I felt connected to her in that way. This is a sweet, fun, girly little beach read and it was a nice break from my usual.
November 6, 2025
One of my favorite books as a young tween-teen.
May 29, 2021
Good gracious this was almost a DNF. I'm so glad I pushed through to the end. This is definitely no amazing book and I definitely felt its age while reading it.
So the overall plot of this story is Minna "Minnow" Vale is 15 and desperately wanting to be viewed as an adult. However, she's still teetering that line between childhood and adulthood. She has dolls, is awkward, has yet to be asked on a date (let alone kissed!), but is beginning to want to wear heels, be seen by boys not just as a friend but as a girl - a girl they could see dating. All of this is whirring around the carnival held in her local tourist town wherein she desires more than anything to be a mermaid in the parade and not a grunion with all the kids.
I'd say the first 60ish percent of this book is meandering. I truly had no idea what the point was. What I'd begin to think was the love interest or the direction of the story would immediately drop off and a new plot point begin. Smack dab in the middle of the book, and very much out of the blue, her "friend" (who she hasn't been all that good friends with the first half of the book) suddenly finds herself hospitalized with Polio. So out of left field.
I'm happy to report that though it takes forever to get there, this book does have a point - and a plot. The first half vs. the second half of the book are night and day different. This was on the brink of being a one-star story if the latter half hadn't really redeemed itself, raising it to a 2.9 out of 5 stars. I really wish the author had not meandered so much throughout the first half.
All that to say... would I recommend it? Probably not. Only if you're a crazy person like me who has begun collecting these adorably covered vintage teen novels. Then yes, totally buy it. The cover is what sold me on it. I feel a bit duped, but I still don't regret buying this book based on how cute it is.
Not a review but still fun: Did the word "cookie" used to be spelled "cooky?" Because it's written that way in this book. I also learned that back then girls started sleeping in lingerie around 14-15 years old. Which reminded me of the girls in the movie Grease sleeping in their baby-dolls and acting like it's no big deal. I realize Grease should probably not be how I obtain my knowledge of that time period, but it's what I know. There are definitely some new discoveries to find in these old time capsule books.
So the overall plot of this story is Minna "Minnow" Vale is 15 and desperately wanting to be viewed as an adult. However, she's still teetering that line between childhood and adulthood. She has dolls, is awkward, has yet to be asked on a date (let alone kissed!), but is beginning to want to wear heels, be seen by boys not just as a friend but as a girl - a girl they could see dating. All of this is whirring around the carnival held in her local tourist town wherein she desires more than anything to be a mermaid in the parade and not a grunion with all the kids.
I'd say the first 60ish percent of this book is meandering. I truly had no idea what the point was. What I'd begin to think was the love interest or the direction of the story would immediately drop off and a new plot point begin. Smack dab in the middle of the book, and very much out of the blue, her "friend" (who she hasn't been all that good friends with the first half of the book) suddenly finds herself hospitalized with Polio. So out of left field.
I'm happy to report that though it takes forever to get there, this book does have a point - and a plot. The first half vs. the second half of the book are night and day different. This was on the brink of being a one-star story if the latter half hadn't really redeemed itself, raising it to a 2.9 out of 5 stars. I really wish the author had not meandered so much throughout the first half.
All that to say... would I recommend it? Probably not. Only if you're a crazy person like me who has begun collecting these adorably covered vintage teen novels. Then yes, totally buy it. The cover is what sold me on it. I feel a bit duped, but I still don't regret buying this book based on how cute it is.
Not a review but still fun: Did the word "cookie" used to be spelled "cooky?" Because it's written that way in this book. I also learned that back then girls started sleeping in lingerie around 14-15 years old. Which reminded me of the girls in the movie Grease sleeping in their baby-dolls and acting like it's no big deal. I realize Grease should probably not be how I obtain my knowledge of that time period, but it's what I know. There are definitely some new discoveries to find in these old time capsule books.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews