Kela and her mother collected sea glass together on the beaches of their Caribbean island home of St. Rita. Then her mother died. Stuck in her grief, and with her last angry words to her mother playing on repeat in her head, she pushes away her best friend, Lissy, and gathers the "mermaid's tears" (as the bits of glass are called) alone, but the joy has gone out of making them into lovely jewelry for sale to tourists. Lissy is the kind of awesome friend who keeps showing up though, and it's on a day when she goes to down to the beach too that Kela finds an old wooden box that pulls her. It's on a protected part of the beach that's strictly off limits. So when Kela take the box home, she knows she's transgressed, but can't imagine the supernatural and real world problems that are about to make her life very complicated indeed.
Inside the box is an old comb, beautifully made. And out in the ocean is the mermaid whose comb it is, who desperately needs it back in order to stay immortal. Ophidia, the mermaid, will stop at nothing to retrieve it. And when she tracks Kela down, she offers a bargain, a wish in exchange for the comb. Though Kela has grown up on stories of mermaid magic (her mother was a folklorist, and keeper of the island's stories), and knows that bargains with mermaids are tricky, her wish to have her mother back is irresistible. But in making the wish, the comb breaks in her hand....and then is stolen from her.
Her mother is back, and everyone but Kela seems to take it for granted. It's as if she never died. But she's not herself; she's tired and sad....and Ophidia is furiously trying to get her comb back, threatening Kela and lashing the island with storms.
Together Kela and Lissy set out to get the comb back from the thief....and find themselves not just in danger from Ophidia, but from a desperate man who has gone so far wrong that their lives are in danger.
(And then a sea monster, summoned by Ophidia, attacks...)
Reading this avidly, my mood vacillated between wonder and enjoyment of the mermaid magic and the folk tales of the island, with light touches of great fondness for Lissy (currently in 1st place for middle grade supporting friend of the year!) and anxiety and sadness for Kela, mixed with horror/sadness when her dead mother returns. It says a lot for Lisa Stringfellow's writing that these two sides of the story stayed beautifully balanced, with scene shifts from one aspect to the other just when I as a reader needed them. It's told both from Kela's point of view and Ophidia's, which adds considerable interest--Ophidia is much more than a one-dimensional angry magical villain.
There's a touch of horror (the sea monster attack is rather gruesomely fatal), but there's so much warmth in the story that the horror fades like a bad dream. Grief stays, as it must, but life and love go on.
side note--I loved that Kela's mom was both a keeper and teller of stories of the island, and an academic folklorist (not something I can recall every seeing in a mg book before). One of my favorite parts of the story was Kela and Lissy sneaking into the mom's office at the island's museum, and going through her files. It was a nice way of showing young readers that stories aren't just for kids, but valuable parts of history and heritage, worthy of museum archives! One of my other favorite bits was when Lissy's grandmother tells a story, using the same traditional call and response beginning and end that frames the book's narrative, that draws the listeners (and readers) in....
I say Crick, you say Crack.
Crick.
Crack.
This is a story.
and ending thus--
Crick.
Crack.
The story is put on you.
It will stay with me for a long time.
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