Julian is a Mermaid

hmatherly
Sep 27, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Nov 29, 2023

Genre/Award/Honor

Banned or Challenged Book

Age Group

PreK-6th

Plot Summary

Julian, a young boy, sees mermaids on a train and decides to dress up like a mermaid. His Abuela embraces his choices.

Justification

Julian is a Mermaid is a 2019 Stonewall Book Award winner. A group of parents in my son’s school district tried to remove this book from our schools in fall 2022. (Conner, 2022) I wanted to see for myself what is so terrible that MY son shouldn’t be allowed to read it. I found a beautiful, heart-warming book about a young boy who wants to be a mermaid.

Illustration

The illustrations take center stages in this beautiful children’s book. In fact, much of the story is told simply through the illustrations without using words. Be sure to take the time to look for story elements that expand develop the plot on the two-page spreads, because not everything is explained in the text.

Language

The sparse language in Julian is a Mermaid leaves the reader more time to dive into the illustrations. In less than 100 words, Jessica Love conveys a Julian’s whimsical longing to be a mermaid, his hope that Abuela will embrace him when she learns his secret, and captures his joy when she fully embraces him.

Character

Julian and Abuela are the only characters who talk in the story. But so much more is communicated in the illustrations that is left out of the dialog. We see Julian’s imaginative thoughts about what life would be like as a mermaid. We see his resourcefulness in playing dress-up while Abuela is taking a bath. We see Abuela’s consternation when she sees her apartment disrupted, but we also see her love for Julian.