Mermaids Fast Asleep

A child with wide glasses camps with her mother and long-snouted dog on the banks of a small lagoon. At twilight, the child wonders if “way down deep,/ there are mermaids fast asleep?” Soon enough, “mermothers, merfathers too/ with golden eyes and hair of blue” appear under the surface (or in the child’s imagination?), gently cradling their children and resting comfortably in cozy underwater nooks. Joining the merfamilies are pink and blue dolphins, fish, and coral. The mermaids settle down for bed: “breathing water like it’s air/ way down deep, down deep, down there.” As nighttime descends, the child, too, sleeps. Persico’s candy-colored illustrations and Riding’s bobbing verse provide a soothing mermaid fantasy. Ages 2–6. [em](Apr.) [/em]