The Tail of Emily Windsnap

The Tail of Emily Windsnap

Title: The Tail of Emily Windsnap

Genre: Fantasy

Author: Liz Kessler

Awards: None

Age group: 9 and up

I personally love this chapter book, it is the first book in the series that takes you through the adventures of a girl named Emily who finds out she is a mermaid.

Summary:

Emily Windsnap is a 12 year old girl who lives with her mom on a boat. Her life was very normal, until one day she finally convinced her mom to let her take swimming lesson when she started school. She had never learned to swim before because of her mother’s fear of the water. But when she gets in the water her feet start to glue together and started forming scales, she quickly got out of the water with help from the teacher. She was so shocked and scared that she avoided swimming lessons from then on. But that same night she tests the water out again and a tail appears and she ends up loving it and the water. After that she continues to sneak out to go swimming whenever she can. One day she meets another mermaid named Shona, who tells her the truth about her father who is a mermaid and that he was in prison for falling in love with a human, which is forbidden by Neptune. Emily decides to find her father and free him. After many obstacles, she finally reaches her father but it is harder to get him out then she thought. She, Shona, Emily’s mother and babysitter end up getting arrested and brought before Neptune to face the charges. But in the end he decided that Emily is right, that love should not be punished. Neptune offers them the opportunity to live like a family, although they have to do it on an island in a secure location for the rest of their lives. In the end, Emily gets to go to school one more time and with some help she reveals herself to them for a shining moment as a mermaid, before Mr.Beeston erases their memories. Then she joins her family and they live happily ever after. Till the next book…

I believe I would use this book in my classroom because it is a great story and is a chapter book series so once you read one, you can continue the story by reading the others which is a great thing for kids.

The appropriate grade level for reading this would be 2nd-5th grade. This book has mostly big letters and relatively short chapters and it is easy to read. It also has some little pictures in it at the beginning of chapters and some mini pictures to split up thoughts.

I believe I could use this book as a read aloud for throughout the year at a designated time for reading. This book can then be used as an example for story mapping. The teacher will use this book to show how to make a story map, such as looking for the beginning, middle, and end and the climax and more. Also this book has a great story that can get kids interested in reading on their own and if they want to, they can read more of the books from the same series.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy