Amy’s Mermaid by Barbara Mitchell (Macdonald Young Books pound;8.50) is a story for newly independent readers about a girl who tells tall stories about a sister she doesn’t have (but longs to have) until she meets a mrmaid called Pearl.
This is one of Macdonald’s graded readers from the Bright Stars series for beginners: its brightly illustrated, quirky tales will entice the over-fives into the reading habit.
