About book Emily Windsnap And The Monster From The Deep (2006)
Read for Anna's ABC&D bookclubThis book picks up shortly after the events of book 1, The Tail of Emily Windsnap. Flipping fins, their lives at Allpoints island begins with 12 year old Emily, excited about her new home, still has the same fears she did in her old home of being different and not fitting in. Her efforts t to impress brings out the bogey-mer of merfolks nightmares and she's the only one who can fix it. "It lends itself to a touch of insomnia, getting stranded on an island the size of a pair of underpants, with nothing to eat, no way of getting home, and no one to talk to except your parents." (102)There are some laugh out loud moments, as you can see from the above quote, and some tension grabbing ones. It is the smaller moments of life, dealing with issues of family, friendship, courage, and bullying, that make you care about these characters and what happens to them. I really loved how the issue of bullying was explored from the point of view of both girls involved. Bullying was touched on and finished off, so I thought, with aplomb in the first book, which made this a pleasant surprise. Each has insecurities, each feels there is something wrong with themselves, and they both have a need to be understood and accepted. One lashes out toward the other as a way of coping, while the other pushes the rules and does crazy things in an effort to fit in. This could be a nice way to broach the subject for adults and a way for both adults and children to see how it affects all involved."How could I compete with a full-time, real mermaid with stars on her tail and gold seaweed in her hair?" (28)"I want to (help). Part of me wants to shout and cry and ask why it has to be like this. But I can't. Show her my weakness and she can hurt me even more. Forget it."(134)This would have been 4-1/2 if not for a part of the story that just seemed too far fetched. Fearsome, formidable King Neptune was too easily swayed by characters that just made no sense to me, especially given his feelings towards these insignificant folks. Maybe future books will explain this so it makes more sense, if so I will come back and change this to a 4-1/2, for now it stays at 4. As in the first book Emily pushes and persuades her new best friend, Shona, to do things she really didn't want to do. Will Emily learn from this behavior in upcoming books, we will just have to wait and see. Emily's changes are slow but more realistic than the instant changes in some books, so she will probably continue to make mistakes, allowing us along on her adventures as she grows and matures. This ends with a little twist in the end that could have some interesting consequences for the series. as you will see from her review below. Anna's review This one was so good but it went too quick! The back of the book tells you that Emily gets help from someone she never wanted to see again. Then as you read the book you get clues, that was an interesting surprise I never would have thought of after the first book.I didn't like Emily suddenly not being scared as I know I would be facing the monster alone. It was just too easy, she just talked to herself and calmed herself down, just like that, too easy.I really like how the author showed Mandy, the bully's, point of view. Getting to see how they both felt was very interesting. I could understand why Mandy did some of the things she did, and was mad and took it out on Emily now. It made a lot of sense with everything she had to deal with at home. This book was more thrilling than the first one, we both agree on this. Really liked this one and want to read the next one in the series. - From Anna Anna and I agree that we liked this second book better than the first and that it was much more exciting and both give it 4-1/2 stars (maybe that should be fins). To put it in merfolk speak. Sharks alive, you won't be off your fins if you keep a gill open and put a fin on this book, but tough tails for you if you don't!
This series is proving to be fun to read, and I can see why girls enjoy them. Emily Windsnap has moved to Allpoints Island, a place where humans and mermaids may live together. Her family has a new house, one where her human mother, and merman father may coexist. Emily gets to start over in a new school with her best friend, Shona. Emily is relived that she no longer has to deal with bullies, like Mandy Rushton. Shona introduces Emily to some other mermaids Althea and Marina, and they go off in adventure. They come to a tunnel in the rocks where mermaids are forbidden to enter, by order of King Neptune. Emily later convinces Shona to go back and explore. Seems harmless enough, except they accidentally release the sleeping Kracken! Apparently Kracken's need to sleep for 100 years, and waking them up before then is not good idea and they get a little "cranky." With an unhappy Kracken on the loose, Shona no longer speaking to Emily, things could not get any worse. Mandy is on vacation with her parents, and they are in the area. Emily deals with things that most girls her age do. She longs to fit in and struggles with bullies. Emily spent the first part of her life with only her mother, now her father is free and in her life. Their relationship struggles to find its place. Her father forgets how much time has actually passed, and thinks of her as a little girl. Emily often fears that she is unable to hold onto a best friend and is afraid that no one will like her at her new school. The book is entertaining, but offers good life lessons. There was a reason no one was allowed into the tunnel, and Emily has to learn a few hard lessons in life. I think I will use this series for one of my tween book clubs.
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As if being a half-mermaid-half human isn't hard enough, Emily Windsnap can't go a minute without a bad situation at stake. But when it comes to accidentally waking up a sea monster that has been sleeping for ninety-two years and has his eyes set only on destruction, "bad situation" is a total understatement. In the book Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep, Liz Kessler provides a magical and adventurous story about friendship. I particularly enjoyed the two perspectives of the plot. With each event, the two main characters give their opinions and judgement on what is going on. Unlike other books with two viewpoints, it is between Emily, the protagonist, and Mandy, a girl who used to antagonize Emily in school. The story's format makes it easier to comprehend what is happening, because each chapter gives details opposing the other character's opinion, making them seem more two dimensional.However, I was very confused when Mandy, the bully, left her family's cruise ship in order to search for Emily. God only knows why she did it, but my guess is that she grew up watching too much television. Mandy's actions seemed very hypocritical to me, because she and Emily had despised of one another in the beginning. Where were her parents when she jumped off the boat, and how did she plan to track down Emily? As if her parents would be able to find her in the middle of the ocean! Needless to say, there really is no safe way to casually leap over the edge of an ocean liner or hang from the davits of a lifeboat and not perish immediately. I found this particular part of the book very nerve-racking, because I know someone would die if they attempted this in real life. A mermaid can't just swim up to the ocean's surface to revive you (Okay, maybe it can happen in Disney™ movies and in books by Hans Christian Andersen, but it will definitely not occur in reality!).Overall, I found Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep a fascinating story with phenomenal descriptive language that will get you hooked on the plot!
—Sarah
After a fun and rollickingly funny first entry in the Emily Windsnap series, Kessler disappointed me greatly with this second offering. Characters who had been dynamic and alive in the previous book just fell flat, partly because so much of the book was consumed with Emily whining about how she wanted everyone to like her, and now no one would like her because she'd released the kraken. Uh, Emily honey? Not only will no one like you, no one will be alive!The bigger issue (and I say this with full knowledge that I'm not the target audience) was that it was way too predictable and repetitive. The entire first half of the book may as well not have been written because the title gives away the big plot point that sets the rift between Emily and Shona and the danger of Allpoints Island in motion! The only thing that even slightly redeemed this for me was getting inside Mandy's head and the compassionate portrayal that was given to her here. Still, it was too predictable and resolved too neatly for me to be able to rate it any higher than this.
—Kate
This book wasn't as good as the first book. The idea behind the story is pretty good and even entertaining, but the thing that annoys me so much is the main characters. They are very immature and they way the author writes their thoughts is so juvinelle. Things like "I can't believe they don't like me, nobody ever likes me anyway". It got old really fast. This book will never win an award. It isn't one of those books where kids can read it and be inspired by a good grounded main character. It is completely on their level. So I guess kids would be able to relate to it. So as for recommending it, sure read it, there isn't anything bad about it, but I think kids would enjoy it more than adults. I will say though that I probably will read the last book in the series to see if it is more along the lines of the first book and not so whiney as this one.
—Brandy
