By Jessica Love
A boy is dazzled by three women dressed as mermaids on the subway, makes his own mermaid costume at home, and his abuela takes him to a parade to celebrate him.
Julián is riding the subway home with his abuela when three women step on dressed head to tail as mermaids, and he can't look away. The minute they're home and abuela is in the bath, he builds his own mermaid out of a lace curtain, some fern fronds, and a swipe of her lipstick. Then she comes out and sees the whole gorgeous mess, and for one held breath you don't know what she'll say. What she does is hand him a string of beads and take him down to a seaside parade full of mermaids. There are almost no words in the whole book. The pictures carry it.
If your child loves mermaids and loves making costumes out of whatever's lying around, here's a boy who feels exactly that pull, drawn so warmly you're on his side from the first page. With so few words, a very young child can 'read' it just by following the pictures, and the costume Julián invents out of a curtain and some ferns tends to send children straight for the dress-up box. Under all the shimmer, what it's really about is being seen and loved by your own family for who you are.