There is so much anticipation and joy leading up to the May 26th opening of The Little Mermaid movie starring Halle Bailey. In a recent interview, Bailey expressed her thoughts on being the first Black woman to star as a Disney princess in a live-action production, “I just feel so grateful, so honored, and so proud that other young Black and Brown babies are gonna get to see themselves and know that they are worthy, and they should be princesses and princes, too.”
Representation for Black children means a lot in both real and imaginary worlds. Besides movies, books are an excellent medium for young readers to see themselves. Before or after the movie opens, dive into one or more of the 20 books listed below that feature Black mermaids. The books range from picture to YA.
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1. The Little Mermaid: Make a Splash
Ashley Franklin | Paul Kellam | Disney Press | April 11, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
2. The Little Mermaid: This is Ariel
Colin Hosten | Disney Press | April 11, 2023 | Early Reader | Amazon | Bookshop
3. The Little Mermaid: Adventures on Land
Brittany Mazique | Disney Press | April 11, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
4. Mermaid and Pirate
Tracey Baptiste | Leisl Adams | Algonquin | April 4, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
5. The Mermaid Princesses
Maya Cameron-Gordon | Mirelle Ortega | HarperCollins | March 28, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
6. Mermaid Kenzie: Protector of the Deeps
Charlotte Watson Sherman | Geneva Bowers | Astra Young Readers | January 18, 2022 | Amazon | Bookshop
7. The Little Mermaid
Jerry Pinkney | Little, Brown BYR | November 3, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
8. Abi and the Little Mermaid
Martyna Dessources | Nabu Press | September 1, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
9. Bubble Kisses
Vanessa Williams | Tara Nicole Whitaker | Union Square Kids | June 23, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
10. What’s the Commotion in the Ocean?
Nyasha Williams | Sofya Glushko | February 16, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
11. The Little Mermaid: The Novelization
Faith Noelle | Disney Press | April 11, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
12. A Comb of Wishes
Lisa Stringfellow | Quill Tree Books | February 8, 2022 | Amazon | Bookshop
13. Josephine Against the Sea
Shakirah Bourne | Scholastic Inc. | July 6, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop
14. The Little Human
Marti Dumas | Stephanie Parcus | Plum Street Press | August 13, 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
15. Rise of the Jumbies
Tracey Baptiste | Algonquin Young Readers | September 19, 2017 | Amazon | Bookshop
16. Sing Me to Sleep
Gabi Burton | Bloomsbury | June 27, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
17. The Little Mermaid: Against the Tide
J. Elle | Disney Press | April 11, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop
18. Soul of the Deep (Skin of the Sea, Bk. 2)
Natasha Bowen| Random House BYR | September 27, 2022 | Amazon | Bookshop
19. Skin of the Sea (Skin of the Sea, Bk. 1)
Natasha Bowen | Random House BYR | November 2, 2021 | Amazon | Bookshop
20. A Song Below Water
Bethany C. Morrow | Tor Teen | June 2, 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
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