9 Enchanting Books Like The Little Mermaid

Fans of The Little Mermaid are certain to fall in love with this spellbinding Black mermaid story by Natasha Bowen. Simi is a mermaid who serves the gods by amassing the souls of people that die at sea and blessing their journeys homeward. Like Ariel, Simi makes a stir when she rescues a boy from a shipwreck. To defend her fellow mermaids, or Mami Wata, Simi will search out the Supreme Creator.

Starting in highschool, I went by a fairy story retellings section that I’ve not left since. Each guide within the Once Upon a Time collection retells a unique fairy story, and I devoured all of them. In Debbie Viguié’s enchanting variation of The Little Mermaid, we meet a mysterious woman who has grown up on the land moderately than within the sea. Having been rescued by a fisherman as a baby, Pearl has all the time felt like an outsider in her village. While she finds consolation in her friendship with Prince James, secrets and techniques from her previous might put the whole lot in danger.

This poignant and heartfelt graphic novel by Trung Le Nguyen options a few fairy tales, together with The Little Mermaid. As with The Little Mermaid, themes surrounding household dynamics, coming-of-age, and identification play a central position within the narrative as properly. Tiến is the son of Vietnamese immigrants, and whereas he loves his household, he’s not sure of learn how to inform them he’s homosexual. Tiến and his mom bond over fairy tales, and these magical tales could also be simply what he wants to search out the proper phrases.

A Little Mermaid-inspired studying listing can’t be full with out mentioning this beloved adaptation of the story by Hayao Miyazaki. This colourful manga brings Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo movie to web page and breathes new life into the candy story. Ready to flee her stifling life at residence underneath the ocean, slightly fish named Ponyo swims away to shore the place she’s rescued from a glass jar by a boy named Sosuke. On land, Ponyo can rework right into a human, however when it causes a disturbance within the steadiness of nature, Ponyo and Sosuke will set off on an epic journey to set issues proper!

Along with mermaid tales, selkie tales additionally promise comparable vibes to The Little Mermaid. In Molly Knox Ostertag’s touching and atmospheric graphic novel, readers journey to an island alongside the coast of Nova Scotia the place closeted teen lesbian Morgan yearns to flee. However, Morgan’s complete world shifts the night time she’s rescued from drowning by a mysterious woman named Keltie.

Speaking of selkies, this under-the-radar fantasy by Franny Billingsley is a long-time favourite of mine. This one is delightfully eerie because it entails chilling creatures often known as the Folk. Corinna Stonewall is a Folk Keeper, gifted with uncommon skills that permit her to maintain the Folk at bay from folks’s houses. When Lord Merton invitations her to his seaside property, Corinna will uncover secrets and techniques about her previous, like why her hair grows two inches each night time and why the ocean appears to name to her.

Like selkies, sirens are one other sea creature harking back to mermaids and excellent for followers of The Little Mermaid. This new guide by Gabi Burton weaves collectively plenty of tantalizing threads, together with a badass Black siren heroine, forbidden romance, grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and gripping homicide thriller subplots. Saoirse Sorkova navigates an internet of lies as she retains her siren identification secret whereas coaching to develop into a soldier, moonlights as an murderer, and lies to her household concerning the stage of management she has over her siren powers. When her sister will get threatened by a blackmailer, Saoirse decides to develop into a bodyguard for the prince and begins digging for solutions.

While this guide by Elizabeth Lim retells one other one in all my favourite fairy tales, The Six Swans, it entails parts that really feel harking back to The Little Mermaid. Like Ariel, Shiori will get trapped in a curse that forces her to stay silent and never use her voice. Lim blends East Asian mythology with The Six Swans storyline to create a really authentic and magical story. When Princess Shiori’s brothers are cursed into turning into six cranes, Shiori will go to any size crucial to avoid wasting them.