Sci-Fi & Scary

I applaud Nancy Guettier for writing books that have an educational bent to them. Any book that teaches conservation to kids definitely has a leg up on the competition in my mind. Mermaids on Mars is definitely a solid kids book with a good lesson behind it (and simple, but pretty illustrations). It’s not exceptional, but if it gets the point across to even a few children then its done its job. Its aimed at ages 3-8, but you’d probably be pushing it if you gave this to an 8 year old. Its very simply written.

The story is all about (obviously) the fact that there used to be Mermaids on Mars and that through foolishly wasting water, they dried Mars out and ended up coming to Earth where they are now practicing conservation – that learned only after they’d destroyed their planet. So the message to kids is definitely “learn from our mistakes”.

My only quibble with this book, honestly, is a light one. Mars is a real planet, so I don’t feel like we should be teaching kids something silly in conjunction to it. I’m fairly science-minded, so it just rubs me the wrong way a bit. I guess my feeling is more that if we’re going to teach them something serious, we shouldn’t teach them something false at the same time.

However, I’m willing to overlook it because of the overarching goal of this book. We do need to teach our children to be mindful of the environment, of not wasting water, and conserving precious resources before its too late! After the rhyming story is over, the last few pages are dedicated to simple tips that most children of reading age can understand to help them do their part in not wasting water.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.