The Tail of Emily Windsnap and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading The Tail of Emily Windsnap on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap [Hardcover]

Liz Kessler , Sarah Gibb
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
List Price: CDN$ 16.29
Price: CDN$ 11.88 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
You Save: CDN$ 4.41 (27%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 2 to 3 weeks.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition CDN $5.21  
Hardcover CDN $11.88  
Paperback CDN $11.69  
Audio, CD, Audiobook --  

Book Description

April 12 2004 Emily Windsnap
A young girl learns she’s half mermaid and plunges into a scheme to reunite with her father in this entrancing, satisfying tale that beckons readers far below the waves.

For as long as she can remember, twelve-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. And, oddly enough, for just as long, her mother has seemed anxious to keep Emily away from the water. But when Mom finally agrees to let her take swimming lessons, Emily makes a startling discovery — about her own identity, the mysterious father she’s never met, and the thrilling possibilities and perils shimmering deep below the water’s surface. With a sure sense of suspense and richly imaginative details, first-time author Liz Kessler lures us into a glorious undersea world where mermaids study shipwrecks at school and Neptune rules with an iron trident — an enchanting fantasy about family secrets, loyal friendship, and the convention-defying power of love.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details


Product Description

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–Seventh-grader Emily Windsnap has never learned to swim, in spite of the fact that she and her mother live on a houseboat. When she finally takes a swimming class at school, her legs turn into a fishtail. She tries to hide her strange affliction, but something draws her to the sparkling surf. Soon, she is secretly gliding through the water as a mermaid. Below the waves, she meets Shona, also 12, who takes her to mermaid school and leads her on several adventures. When Emily learns the intriguing history of the Shiprock community and of illegal marriages between humans and merpeople, she begins to look for her merman father. Danger, humor, confrontation, and even a trial before Neptune all play a part in her search. Eventually, she finds her dad and comes to understand the truth about her oddly controlling neighbor, Mr. Beeston; her mother's dislike of water; and her parents' love affair. All ends well when the family is reunited and swims away to live a new life on a secret merfolk island. This fantasy has some delightful moments, but not enough to keep it afloat. Characters are not fully developed, the plot wavers between complicated and oversimplified, and the transition from merworld to human is not smooth.–Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. This first novel opens with a classic teaser: "Can you keep a secret?" It turns out that the secret is a particularly juicy one. Though outwardly a normal seventh-grader, Emily Windsnap transforms into a mermaid when she goes swimming. The phenomenon worries her but thrills her, too, especially when she discovers an underwater "mer-city" not far from where she lives, and begins to learn the answers to nagging questions about her origins: Why did her father abandon her when she was a baby? Why can't her mother remember details about her husband? After a new mermaid friend mentions "illegal marriages" between mer-people and humans, readers will guess where things are headed--long before Emily herself does. Emily's eventual reunion with her merman father seems overly reliant on luck and coincidence, but her determination keeps things cruising along, and the premise of someone slipping easily into a shimmery underwater world has considerable allure. Light, imagination-tickling fare ideal for middle-grade girls, with charming ink-wash illustrations scattered throughout. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
Can you keep a secret? Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

5 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars The deep secret Aug 18 2007
By Amanda Richards HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
If you liked the movie Aquamarine or the story of The Little Mermaid, you'll probably like this scaly fishy tale about a twelve year old girl with a big secret.

Emily lives with her mother on a boat, and on the day of her first ever swimming class at her new school, she discovers that she's different from her classmates. If she had ever heard of the group Styx, and their classic song Mr. Roboto, she might have sung:

I've got a secret that's been hiding under my skin
My mother's human, my father's missing, and now I have fins
So if you see me swimming freely, don't be surprised
I'm just a girl who needed someone, with something to hide

Exploring the wet element with her new-found talent, she finds a colorful and magical world under the sea, and meets a new BFF who helps her on a big adventure to find her father. Of course they meet all sorts of obstacles in their way, and come up against the dark cloud of the power-crazy water god who doesn't want her to have another bright (bright) bright (bright) sun-shiny day.

Fast and easy to read, this is one that should appeal to young readers up to the age of 12, especially girls, although boys may also find some parts to their liking.

Amanda Richards
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.6 out of 5 stars  126 reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery, magic and mermaids all in one book! May 16 2005
By L. Laskey - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
My 10 year old daughter and I read this one together. It was an impulse buy, so I didn't know what to expect. We loved this book. It really captures what it would be like for Emily to discover the changes she is going through (might also be helpful for girls going through puberty). The mystery developed nicely with just enough clues to keep the reader (young and old-er) turning pages. My daughter would beg for more time whenever we had to put the book down. Also as a teacher and a writer, this story is well-written, with great characters, good dialogue and terrific description. I am off to look for another Liz Kessler book!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Dreams from the Sea July 28 2006
By Morgan-Kate - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I read and finished this book VERY quickly, why? Because this is a dream that every girl would love, becoming a mermaid. This is a tail... I mean TALE about a girl named Emily that transforms into a mermaid only when she sets foot in the water and is human on land. She is a half mermaid half human because she soon discovered that her mother married a merman. In the deep blue sea this is apparently illegal so the father gets locked up in a underwater prison. Emily wants to meet her father badly so takes the risk of breaking into the jail. Please read this book.....it's a book EVERYONE can enjoy!
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Very poorly written book Oct 9 2008
By Rachel Reeves - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
As a teacher, I read several hundred children's and young adult books every year. This book was a huge disappointment. Poorly written with ridiculous situations that don't make sense (reading a paper book under the water? Not being able to scale an underwater wall? Has the author not heard of being able to SWIM over it?) and flat characters. There are some wonderful children's books out there about magical creatures. This is not one of them. :(

Actually, I should have known the book was bad. On the back cover, the only reviews are for the ARTWORK! The writing isn't even mentioned.
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Amazon.ca Privacy Statement Amazon.ca Shipping Information Amazon.ca Returns & Exchanges