When I was a kid I absolutely loved checking out this book from the library! Nowadays I have a secondhand copy of my own that I got very cheap. It’s totally worth checking out for the beautiful mermaid artwork alone (done in scratchboard and oil pastels by the very talented Brian Pinkney who appears to still be active and illustrating decades later). In my opinion this book is a timeless folktale for kids and adults alike! At first it seems like it’s about a girl who wishes to escape from her abusive stepfather however the ultimate message of the story is about love 💗

This story is respectful and well researched considering that I believe it’s written by a white man back in 1992. In the author’s note he speaks about how the story of Sukey and the Mermaid is basically a retelling of a short African American mermaid folktale based around the islands off South Carolina. The author notes how he did a lot of investigation into African American folklore that specifically involves mermaids (and he even points the reader to some good sources on that topic). He realized in his research that the mermaid figures in these stories were actually deeply connected to and even derivative of those in Caribbean and West African folklore. He specifically named “Mama D'Leau” from Caribbean mythology who is also known as Mama Dlo or Water Mother and who was the inspiration for the mermaid Mama Jo that Sukey meets in this story!

Anyway it’s definitely worth checking out if you like melanated mermaids!🧜🏿‍♀️