Half girl, half fish. That’s how 12-year-old Molly Seabrook feels. To help out her mother’s fish-and-chip shop, Molly stands on the boardwalk in a haddock suit passing out flyers. Molly works there with her 3 older sisters. Their youngest sister isn’t old enough yet to help out, but she’s pretty adorable, so Molly can’t get too mad at her.

Molly’s best friend Ada doesn’t have to work, but she does stop by sometimes to talk about Cute Steve and Penalty Pete. Or about school, but that’s not as interesting. Sometimes Molly feels herself getting frustrated with her family and snaps at them, or snaps at Ada, but she doesn’t mean to. Her feelings just get the better of her, and she can’t stop herself. But she’s working on it.

Then it’s Molly’s birthday, and Molly’s older sisters and mother let her in on the big family secret: her mother is a mermaid. That means that all the sisters are half-mermaids, and on their thirteenth birthday, they take her down to the sea for her first transformation into a mermaid.

Molly is confused and frightened at first, but before she knows what’s happening, her legs fuse together and she has a beautiful, shiny white tail. She can’t believe that her mother and sisters kept this from her! They tell her that no one else can know about this, that no one from school can know her secret, but when Molly finds herself too close to the swimming pool, she has a very close call.

But what really breaks her heart is the fight she has with Ada. As Ada gets closer to the popular girls and to her soccer-playing crush Penalty Pete, Molly feels left behind. Between that and her big secret, she is struggling to find where she fits in anymore. Maybe her new merpower can help her settle into her new life as a half-mermaid teenager? If not, Molly doesn’t know how she keep her secret and get her friend back.

And Then I Turned into a Mermaid is a warm, thoughtful middle grade novel about the struggles of turning 13 and trying to figure out where you fit in the world. Author Laura Kirkpatrick offers up a sweet, charming story of friendship and sisterhood with a splash of magic in this delightful story.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Molly is very much her own person, with a strong voice and matching personality. I was also very happy to find out what her merpower is (I won’t say, as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but it’s really good). I think that offers more depth to this story, and I look forward to reading more of Molly’s adventures as a teenaged girl and as a half-mermaid.

A copy of And Then I Turned into a Mermaid was provided by Sourcebooks Young Readers, with many thanks.