Fish Girl

"Welcome to Ocean Wonders," a three-story building by the shore that is a novelty aquarium made up of large interconnected tanks that provide an immersive experience to visitors. The real attraction, though, is Fish Girl: a mermaid whose job is to be glimpsed by visitors but never fully seen. The proprietor of Ocean Wonders, and Fish Girl's caretaker, is Neptune. With his magical trident, he conjures waves and calls up storms during their daily spectacle. Life has always been this way, until Fish Girl is seen and befriended by Livia, a human girl who calls her Mira (short for Miracle). Brash Livia tells Neptune she knows his secrets: he must be using machines and remote controls to create the wave and storm effects. Is what Livia said true? How did Mira really come to be Neptune's ward? And what would happen if she got out of her fish-tank prison? Wiesner and Napoli create an intriguing original tale, narrated almost entirely through Mira's thoughts, allowing for the gradual revelation of truth as the protagonist begins to uncover it. Wiesner's first foray into graphic novels features his trademark clean lines and studied details in watercolor panel illustrations interspersed with a few powerful double-page spreads. The panels are mostly uniform, reinforcing Mira's feeling of confinement; however, some variation in the presentation might have helped reflect Mira's chaotic emotional state even better (it would have been less puzzling, too, if readers could see Mira's gills, which are mentioned in the text but not pictured throughout the book). Quibbles aside, this gorgeous volume is definitely a welcome addition for any graphic novel collection. roxanne hsu feldman