By Annet Schaap Schaaps story of family, friendship, and loyalty is humorous, scary, and filled with goodness. Booklist, starred reviewFor fans of The Hazel Wood, this middle-grade novel takes the dark stuff of fairytales and crafts it into a powerful stor
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By Annet Schaap
Schaaps story of family, friendship, and loyalty is humorous, scary, and filled with goodness.
Booklist, starred review
For fans of The Hazel Wood, this middle-grade novel takes the dark stuff of fairytales and crafts it into a powerful story of friendship and light.
Asking herself, What if the Little Mermaid left a child behind? Annet Schaap weaves a fantastical story inspired by both the light and the dark of fairytales.
As the lighthouse keepers daughter, Lampie must light a lantern to warn ships away from the rocks. But when a ship is wrecked, the townspeople are angry, and someone must pay. To work off her debt, Lampie is banished to the Admiral’s lonely house, where a monster is rumored to live. The terrors inside the house aren’t quite what she thought they would bethey are even stranger. Lampie befriends the neglected son of the admiral, a boy she calls Fish, and the two form a close bond.
Having been abandoned by those on land, the two children join up with other misfits, mermaids, and pirates for a daring maritime adventure. Lampie must muster the courage to fight for friendship and the freedom to be differentboth on land and in the sea.
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Annet Schaap, author & illustrator
Annet Schaap is one of the Netherlands’ best-loved illustrators. Her debut novel,Lampje, now available in the United States asOf Salt & Shore, won four prizes, including the best Dutch children’s book of 2018. She lives in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Read more about Annet.
Booklist, starred review
Growing up in a village by the sea, Emilia, daughter of the lighthouse keeper and thus nicknamed Lampie, has heard the rumors about the monster in the Admirals Black House. Now shes about to experience the Black House firsthand, all because she forgot to get the matches for the lighthouse lamp. As luck would have it, a storm blows in while the lamp is unlit and a ship wrecks on the rocks. Now, to pay off the damages, Lampie must work in the Black House for seven years while her father is locked in the lighthouse for the same period. Once in the mansion, Lampies curiosity leads her to a locked tower, where she finds not a monster but Edward, the admirals son, who is a merman. What ensues is a friendship that neither Lampie nor Edward ever expected, but one that rescues them for life. Divided into six sections, with intriguing artwork interludes, Schaaps story of family, friendship, and loyalty is humorous, scary, and filled with goodness. The captivating supporting cast of charactersa mix of realistic, fanciful, and stereotypicalmakes for a delightful read. This is the first U.S. edition of Schaaps book, first published in the Netherlands to wide acclaim.
Kirkus Reviews
A young girl uncovers an incredible, terrifying secret inside a forbidding, ominous house perched on the edge of the sea. Ever since Lampies mother died, lighthouse keeper Augustus has drunk himself into debt and hurls his anger at Lampie. When a ship is wrecked, father and daughter are blamed for carelessly running out of matches to light the lamp. Augustus is imprisoned in his lighthouse, and illiterate Lampie must be a servant for seven years in the sinister Black House, rumored to harbor a monster. What Lampie discovers in the high tower room is not what she expects, but Lampie is her mothers daughter, with resiliency to survive in the face of relentless cruelty and despair. The story is billed as a sequel to The Little Mermaid, but the ties to Han Christian Andersens classic fairy tale are not apparent until well into it. However, elements of The Secret Garden and Beauty and the Beast are evident throughout, enticing readers hungry for new yet classic-feeling books. Translated from Dutch, the third-person narration moves seamlessly, transitioning from character to character, drawing parallels, and setting up juxtapositions that further illuminate the characters motivations and growth. Many of the adults in this book are damaged, mentally and physically, and this affects most cruelly the children in their lives. Characters seem to be assumed white. Gritty and suspenseful, this atmospheric fairy tale will capture the hearts of sturdy middle-grade readers.
The Bulletin
When Lampie and her drunken fathers negligence of their lighthouse duties leads to a shipwreck, locals lock her father in the lighthouse and indenture Lampie at the mysterious Black House to work off the cost of the lost ship. Despite the warnings of housekeeper Martha, Lampie dares the houses stinking, ominous tower room to find and eventually befriend the Admirals secret merman son, a half-feral boy named Edward (Lampie dubs him Fish). With help from Marthas sweet neurodiverse son Lenny, handyman Nick, a traveling sideshow, and last-minute pirates, Lampie helps Fish embrace his merman nature instead of trying to be human to please his exacting, emotionally withholding father. While some emotional resolution is missing for both Lampie and Fish in this Dutch import, the various points of view are highly effective, especially Fishs earliest chapters when he is starving and furious. Watkinsons translation flows easily, balancing momentum and present-tense narration with an almost folksy tone. Schaaps illustrator chops are on display in five full-spread section breaks, where tightly sketched figures move through or contemplate vast, ink-washed landscapes and cavernous spaces. This would pair well with Potters The Kneebone Boy (BCCB 10/10) in its combination of bittersweet whimsy, serious undertones, and gothic mystery delights.
Publishers Weekly
With this haunting story, author-illustrator Schaap weaves together elements remniscent of Andersens The Little Mermaid and Burnetts The Secret Garden to construct a gothic fable. After a shipwreck occurs during a storm, 11-year-old lighthouse keepers daughter Emilia Waterman, called Lampie, is taken from her father, who is blamed for the wreck. Inhabited by a bare-bones staff serving an absentee admiral, her bleak new cliffside home, the Black House, is reportedly haunted by a monster. Lampie eventually discovers that the monster is Edward, the reclusive, abrasive son of the admiral, who has scaly skin and a fishs tail. Over time, she befriends the boy she nicknames Fish, whos determined to learn how to walk on land despite his deformity. After a visit to a traveling fair reveals clues about Fishs parentage, Lampie and her new friend wind up in an escapade that will change their lives. Formal language and multiple perspectives result in a narrative distance that, while appropriate for a fairy tale, betrays a lack of focus as the story develops. The inclusion of an era-appropriate freak show, though delicately handled, may still disturb some readers.
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-62354-230-6
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-62354-344-0
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-63289-998-9 EPUB
Ages: 10 and up
Page count: 336
51/2 x 81/4
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