This is a shortened version of Andersen's original fairy tale. The text captures the highlights and is beautifully enhanced by watery illustrations.

While I'm not familiar with the original fairy tale, this story seemed to be much different from the version I know. It has a decent message, but I'm not sure how I would use it with children. I do believe that it teaches a great lesson about the consequences of our actions, but it does it in the name of "love," which is only infatuation-at-first-sight from the mermaid. While the underlying message is a good one, I don't like the form in which it comes.