A Book Of Mermaids by Ruth Manning Sanders

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the delay on newest mermaid reviews! I was one of the many who encountered the forces of hurricane Sandy, which lead to no power or Internet for over 12 days!!

Book Type: Collection Of Short Stories
Author: Ruth Manning Sanders
Pages: 128

Summary(amazon.com):
Stories about mermaids come from almost every country by the sea--from Iceland to India, America to Arabia. In these sixteen stories, Ruth Manning-Sanders captures the quirky personalities of mermaids and mermen, recounting their marvelous schemes and adventures with a master story-teller's eye for detail. This beloved and classic work, with stunning illustrations by Robin Jacques, has been out of print for decades. All fans of mermaid lore will celebrate this new, affordable paperback edition.
                                                                                My Review:
Since I had no power, I figured I would catch up on my reading for this blog. However, I was disappointed when I finished this book. The book was just plain boring, and lacked the mystical mermaid charm that we as mer-readers get excited about. The mermaids in each story seemed to posses very similar characteristics, such as generosity, being mischievous and of course, beautiful and charming. From this, the book became boring all too quickly. I do have to give the book credit on being culturally diverse though. It offers stories from a variety of countries, so if any of you readers are interested in mermaid stories like this, then I recommend this book for you. However, for my taste, I found this book a bit bland. I found another book very similar to this one, titled The mermaid reader, and of mermen, Nixie's, water-nymphs, sea sirens, sea-serpents, sprites and kindred creatures of the deep. Here is the cover if you are interested:


I must inform you though,I honestly could not even finish the second book, since it was terribly similar to the book above. I would give both of these books (**) 2 stars.
-Sirenita The Selkie

Goosebumps: Deep Trouble by R.L. Stine

Book Type: Novel/short story
Author: R.L. Stine
Pages: 117

Summary(goodreads.com):
Billy and his sister, Sheena, are visiting their uncle Dr. Deep on a tiny Caribbean island. It's the perfect place to go exploring underwater...and Billy's ready for an adventure. There's only one rule to remember: Stay away from the coral reefs. Still, the reefs are so beautiful. So peaceful. Billy can't resist. But he's not alone in the water. Something's lurking deep below the surface. Something that's dark and scaly. Something that's half-human, half f-fish..

My Review: 
I know what your thinking. Goosebumps? A mermaid book? Really? And yes! I was just as surprised as you were. When I first picked this up, I didn't really read the back too much, but I was really surprised to find out the "sci-fi" creature in this book was a mermaid. I didn't expect Stine to write about a mermaid. This book was overall meant for children really. The plot was not twisted or unexpected, so there really wasn't much excitement, but I recommend that everyone tries a book at least once, no matter what someone rates it as. I give this book (**) 2 stars.
-Sirenita The Selkie