MerTales 1 – The Best Friend Promise

Rebecca Timmis's The Best Friend Promise is the first MerTales book, a sparkly underwater adventure for 6 year olds about a mermaid whose birthday takes a very magical turn.

What happens

Pearl Periwinkle is turning nine today, and she's got a huge party planned. There's going to be a dolphin show, a seahorse dance and octopus acrobats (plus a cake with nine tiers!).

Running late, she takes a shortcut over the reef, which mermaids really aren't meant to do. A bright green star streaks down into the water behind her. Then her pink tail starts to tingle and glow.

By morning break she's sure of it. She can hear animals talk! A squidpup tells her it loves eating sea scum, and a passing swordfish can't resist a pun. Her best friends Coral and Shell aren't convinced (Coral doesn't believe in magic at ALL).

Then there's Sandy Starfish. She's the cleverest mermaid in the class, always tucked behind a giant book, and she keeps popping up wherever Pearl goes. Is she spying on them?

When things go wrong on the way home, Pearl loses her temper and says something she regrets straight away. That's the bit that will probably ring true for lots of kids. Pearl is kind to Sandy in class, shouts at her when she's cross, and then has to find the courage to put it right.

It's a really gentle way into thinking about how fast a falling-out can happen. There's a proper burst of excitement too, with the tangly, murky Weeded Wood and a roaring reef dragon the size of a whale. It's tense for a moment, and it's Pearl's new power that saves the day.

The puns are everywhere. Breakfast is sea-cakes, the class sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Starfish in Music and the teacher greets everyone with "nice to sea you all". The sentences are short and the chapters zip along, so it's a nice one for a newly confident reader to try on their own.

One of the best bits is the seahorse riding lesson. Pearl just tells Silverdust where to go, and they score twenty-four goals. Who wouldn't want to chat to a seahorse?

What to read next

If they love the idea of a girl who secretly understands animals, try The Lonely Lion Cub. Zoe Parker lives at her great-uncle's Rescue Zoo, and ever since her sixth birthday she's understood every squeak and roar (a secret she's promised a parrot she'll keep).