Trouble at Trident Academy

In Trouble, mermaids Shelly and Echo are excited for their school year at Trident Academy, but an argument and an intrusive classmate test their friendship. In Battle, Echo is invited to Pearl's birthday party but Shelly isn't; she must decide how best to handle the situation. While the dialogue in these first series installments falls flat, the black-and-white illustrations are charming. Glos. [Review covers these Mermaid Tales titles: Battle of the Best Friends and Trouble at Trident Academy.] (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Prolific Dadey's (Keyholders: The Wrong Side of Magic, 2010, etc.) latest series follows young mermaids through turbulent friendships. Eight-year-old best friends Shelly and Echo are overjoyed to be starting school at the prestigious Trident Academy at the same time. Rambunctious and good-natured, together they cause mild trouble, especially in trying to find a way to make grumpy Mr. Fangtooth crack a smile. Their friendship wobbles when they disagree over whether to ask Shelly's grandfather for help on a school project or not. The minor tiff leads to Echo's sudden friendship with Pearl, a rich snob who dislikes Shelly most of all. Echo and Shelly miss each other, though, and restore their friendship while reaching out to another mermaid who is new to the area and has made friends. While Echo and Shelly are not particularly distinctive, and Pearl and the archetypal token boy, Rocky, are cartoony, the characters' interactions are funny and believable. The friendship-driven conflicts continue in Battle of the Best Friends (publishing simultaneously). In Battle, Pearl books a top under-the-sea band to perform and invites Echo but not Shelly; the end again reinforces the importance of inclusiveness and rewards those who are nice. The underwater setting adds some dimension to straightforward friendship stories. (class reports written by each character, song lyrics, author's note, glossary) (Fantasy. 6-9) ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Trident Academy I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" ECHO SAID. "IT'S finally happening." Shelly took a small sip of her seaweed juice before pushing a lock of red hair from her face. Usually she didn't care if her hair stuck straight up, but today was special. "We're so lucky to get an invitation to Trident Academy. I didn't think it would happen to me." Echo and Shelly both lived in Trident City, not far from the famous Trident Academy. They had been friends since they'd played together in the small-fry area of MerPark. The eight-year-old mermaids were celebrating their first day of school with breakfast at the Big Rock CafÉ, a favorite hangout. The place was packed with students proudly wearing their Trident Academy sashes. The two mergirls didn't see a third mergirl swimming up behind them. Her name was Pearl. Echo and Shelly usually tried to avoid the bossy mergirl from their neighborhood. "Oh my Neptune!" Pearl snapped when she saw Shelly. "I can't believe you , of all merpeople, got into Trident." Usually only very wealthy or extremely smart students were accepted. Pearl was rich. Echo was a quick learner. Shelly was neither, but she knew more about ocean animals than both of them put together. Echo came to her friend's defense. "Of course Shelly got into Trident. She is very talented." "At what ?" Pearl asked. "Digging for crabs?" Shelly glanced at her dirty fingernails and immediately hid them under her blue tail fin. "At least I know how to hunt crabs. I bet you'd starve to death if you had to do something for yourself." Pearl flipped her blond hair, stuck her pointy nose up in the water, and said, "I know how to do plenty of things." "Name one," Shelly said. "How to be on time for school, for starters," she said. Pearl spun around and flicked her gold tail, knocking seaweed juice all over Shelly's new Trident sash! Splash! Pearl giggled and swam off toward school. "Oh no!" Shelly squealed, dabbing green juice off the gold-and-blue sash. "She did that on purpose!" Echo glared after Pearl before helping her friend wipe the sash. "It's fine now. You can hardly see it," Echo said. That wasn't exactly true--there was definitely a green blob on Shelly's sash. "We'd better get going," Echo said, adjusting the glittering plankton bow in her dark curly hair. "We don't want to be late on our first day." Shelly groaned. She wasn't quite so excited now. "If Trident Academy is filled with merpeople like Pearl, then I don't think I'm going to like it." "There's only one way to find out," Echo said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go." Excerpted from Trouble at Trident Academy by Debbie Dadey All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.