Coney Island and Mermaids on Parade

Coney Island and Mermaids on Parade

Mermaids on Parade immortalizes the parade that has opened the tourist season on Coney Island since 1983.
The book by Melanie Hope Greenberg is a showcase of all types of people dressed in their finery - mermaids, Neptunes, and sea creatures -- all ready to show off their finery.  Colorful characters abound and one little girl is right in the midst of the festivities with her family.  The illustrations are created in a flat, gouache style with a soft candy palette.  Each illustration invites readers to find the little girl who dressed as a mermaid in a seashell wagon, is among the festive parade participants.  The parade, now in its fourth decade, attracts nearly a million spectators.  Readers will find more information about the parade in the notes at the end of the book which gives information about the event.

View a brief testimony to the delight in this book on Pryor Optimus's youtube channel.  This book review is narrated in part by Kiyah - Pryor's friend who loves all things mermaid.

This is Kiyah's first appearance as a guest reviewer but her love for the book is evident.  View the youtube video at http://bit.ly/mermaidsonparade

A newly (2019) released edition of this book in paperback is available on Amazon and from ingramcontent.com.

And don't miss the book on the author's website at http://melaniehopegreenberg.blogspot.com/2017/08/mermaids-on-parade.html

Pryor Optimus hosts a youtube channel and invites subscribers.  He recently reviewed Greenberg's Aunt Lilly's Laundromat and continues his focus on interesting books with other Book Reader reviews.  Visit his channel at http://bit.ly/pryoroptimus
and be sure to subscribe.



And learn more about mermaids and the Coney Island Parade.  Another great book featuring mermaids is Jan Brett's The Mermaid.  Kiniro is a young mermaid who happens upon a wonderful house all made of seashells - and much like Goldilocks, Kiniro is curious and must investigate.  The Octopus family that return to their home to find their food eaten, things broken, and Kiniro asleep in baby Octopus's bed are not at all happy.
More of a variant of the traditional Goldilocks tale than informative about mermaids, however, the setting shows the coast of Okinawa, Japan which shows that mermaids can be in Coney Island and around the world in Japan.  With a little searching you will find books about how to catch a mermaid, mermaid school, and my favorite for older readers - The Mermaid Handbook: An Alluring Treasury of Literature, Lore, Art, Recipes and Projects by Carolyn Turgeon (Harper Design, 2018).

And if you like mermaids as much as Kiyah does then you will certainly want to research what you can find out.
Information about Coney Island and the Mermaid Parade can easily be found with an internet search but https://www.coneyisland.com/ will have a link to information about the Mermaid Parade and other Coney Island information.