Polacco, Patricia The Mermaid’s Purse. PICTURE BOOK.
Putnam (Penguin), 2016. $18.
Polacco’s grandmother started a lending library in the late
1890’s in her small town. While the
farmers were skeptical, the knowledge she had helped the entire community. When a tornado ripped through and leveled the
family home and her library, the community rallied around her, building a new
library and filling it with books.
I love to story of the library and teaching the farmers –
especially the one who was hostile because he didn’t know how to read. However, the book opens telling how she was
born in a caul, or birth membrane, called a “mermaid’s purse” by the
midwife. If you google mermaid’s purse,
however, it is only applied to marine animals, not to humans – this might be a
regional, 1800’s usage that is now obsolete.
(I would STRONGLY suggest that is you google mermaid’s purse DO NOT read
the urban dictionary version – AVERT YOUR EYES). This is an audacious beginning for a story
meant for young children. It will probably
give some adult readers a little pause.
EL – OPTIONAL. Cindy,
Library Teacher.
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