by Jane Yolen
This story is about a young girl with a hearing impairment who resents having to wear a hearing aid and learn sign language. The she meets a silent girl on the beach who turns out to be a mermaid. The mermaid had disobeyed the merfolk laws and as punishment was banished from the sea, thrust onto land with legs. She and the girl strike up a friendship. Under the water, mermaids speak via signals with bubbles and hand gestures, so the two easily work out how to communicate in sign language. The girl comes to find beauty in the fluid motion of speaking hands, and the mermaid does a good deed for a dolphin, after which she is allowed to return to the sea. The Mermaid\’s Three Wisdoms is a nice little book. It reminds me somewhat of The Seal Child.
Rating: 2/5 …….. 112 pages, 1978