“Mermaid and the Ice Cube Necklace” by Lois Wickstrom

• 04/21/2022
• 2 comments

Mermaid and the Ice Cube Necklace

Lois Wickstrom
Look Under Rocks (2022)
ISBN: 978-1-954519282
Reviewed by Lydia (age 8) for Reader Views Kids (04/2022)

In “Mermaid and the Ice Cube Necklace” by Lois Wickstrom, two girls, Maia and Fig, go out for a picnic. Maia knows a mermaid who Fig can’t see, named Trezzie. The girls bring things to drink and also ice cubes. Trezzie swims up to them and says that she likes the ice cubes, and asks Maia if she can make a necklace out of them. Fig still can’t see Trezzie, so she acts confused about what Maia is doing when she is blowing on the ice cubes with a straw. Maia explains to Fig that the air she is breathing is warm so that it makes a hole to be able to put string through and make a necklace. Fig then asks about the ice cubes when they are in her lemonade versus when they are on Trezzie in the lake; Fig still can’t see Trezzie but can see a string of ice cubes floating on the water. Will Fig ever see Trezzie and believe that she’s real?

I learned a lot about water in this book and how hot and cold temperatures can change how water looks (solid, liquid, or gas). I was confused in the story most of the time why Fig couldn’t ever see Trezzie. It didn’t make sense to me. I think that if I were Fig, I wouldn’t like being confused by not being able to see Trezzie when Maia could. I already knew some things about water, but it was still fun to read about it again. I thought that the pictures in the book were bright and colorful and showed what was happening.

A Note from Mom:

When Lydia and I read “Mermaid and the Ice Cube Necklace,” we both felt slightly confused and I wondered if I should have some prior knowledge of the characters before having read this book even though there is no indication that this is a book in a series (besides stating it’s “A Mermaid Science Book”) or which book number it might be. The story overall is age-appropriate for early elementary age as it teaches, in an entertaining way, part of the science of water (not the water cycle, but more so the phases of water – solid and liquid). The vocabulary was spot-on for Lydia to read and understand, it’s just that she struggled with the storyline of Fig not being able to see Trezzie when Maia could, and there not being a clear explanation as to why that was.