The Little Mermaid

Author: Michael Teitelbaum
Copyright Date: 1999
Publisher: Golden Books
Number of Pages: 24
Reading Level: Preschool age
Genre: Fiction, Picture Book

Summary
"The Little Mermaid" is the story of a mermaid named Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton. She and her fish friend, Flounder, loved finding human items and taking them to Scuttle the seagull to learn more about them. One day, Ariel saw a ship so she went up to look at it. On board was Prince Eric--it was love at first sight. There was a great storm and Prince Eric fell off board, so Ariel had to rescue him. She took him to the shore, sang a love song, and had to hurry and leave because people were coming. When Prince Eric awoke, he remembered the girl singing to him and was determined to find her--he was also in love! King Triton found Ariel's secret grotto with all of her human treasures and destroyed them. There was nothing Ariel could do. Meanwhile, Ursula, the sea witch, knew of Ariel's situation and had an evil plan. She talked to Ariel and said she could turn her into a human, in return for her voice. She would have three days to try to get the prince to kiss her. If he did not do that, she would belong to Ursula! She found Prince Eric but he didn't think she was the right girl because Ariel couldn't talk, and he remembered a beautiful voice. They spent a lot of time together and he liked her more and more. Once they were on a boat, and he almost kissed her but Ursula's eels turned the boat over!

Then Ursula decided to step in. Using Ariel's voice (which was kept in a sea shell necklace), she disguised herself as a beautiful girl and Eric believed she was the girl he had been searching for. They planned to get married on Eric's new ship, and when Scuttle flew past a window he saw Ursula's reflection where Eric's future bride was standing! He ran to tell Ariel, and they stopped the wedding. The shell necklace fell and broke, and Ariel had her voice back. Through all this, King Triton came and tried to help them, Ursula got the magic trident, Eric and Ariel steered the ship to run into and destroy Ursula, and Ariel became a mermaid again and returned back to the sea. While Eric was laying unconscious on the shore and Ariel was watching him, King Triton realized she really loved him and turned her into a human. She ran to Eric, they got married that day, and they lived happily ever after.

Reaction
I love The Little Mermaid. It's one of my favorite Disney princesses and this book follows the Disney version of the story. I love it.

Recommendations
I would recommend parents read this to their daughters. It's such a cute story and I think girls would love it.

Problems/Conflicts
King Triton destroys Ariel's things, she disobeys her father, the evil sea witch makes an awful deal with Ariel and steals her voice, and the sea witch (Ursula) tries to kill them. Other than that, there aren't too many problems.