The Mermaid in the Bathtub

$22.99

Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers | Ages 5 - 10

By Nurit Zarchi

Illustrations by Rutu Modan

Translated from the Hebrew by Tal Goldfajn

The Mermaid in the Bathtub is a charming, gorgeously retro retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic story “The Little Mermaid,” by beloved Israeli author and illustrator duo Nurit Zarchi and Rutu Modan.

One day, a resolutely ordinary young man named Mr. Whatwilltheysay returns home to find Grain-of-Sand, a mermaid, waiting for him in his favorite armchair. Despite his objections, the two embark on a series of very watery adventures as he tries to get rid of her. But ultimately the thought of being seen with half a fish is simply too much for Mr. Whatwilltheysay to bear—what would people say? So broken-hearted Grain-of-Sand returns to the sea in his bathtub, leaving Mr. Whatwilltheysay to resume his pedestrian existence. Mr. Whatwilltheysay soon finds that his beloved landlubber life, however, lacks the splash and shimmer (and bathtub) of his good times with Grain-of-Sand—and acting against all his instincts, he sets off to sea to find her.

Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers | Ages 5 - 10

By Nurit Zarchi

Illustrations by Rutu Modan

Translated from the Hebrew by Tal Goldfajn

The Mermaid in the Bathtub is a charming, gorgeously retro retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic story “The Little Mermaid,” by beloved Israeli author and illustrator duo Nurit Zarchi and Rutu Modan.

One day, a resolutely ordinary young man named Mr. Whatwilltheysay returns home to find Grain-of-Sand, a mermaid, waiting for him in his favorite armchair. Despite his objections, the two embark on a series of very watery adventures as he tries to get rid of her. But ultimately the thought of being seen with half a fish is simply too much for Mr. Whatwilltheysay to bear—what would people say? So broken-hearted Grain-of-Sand returns to the sea in his bathtub, leaving Mr. Whatwilltheysay to resume his pedestrian existence. Mr. Whatwilltheysay soon finds that his beloved landlubber life, however, lacks the splash and shimmer (and bathtub) of his good times with Grain-of-Sand—and acting against all his instincts, he sets off to sea to find her.

About the author

Nurit Zarchi is an Israeli poet and author for adults and children. Zarchi has published many poems in children’s magazines and over 100 children’s books, poetry, prose and research. Zarchi has received major Israeli awards including the Bialik Prize, the Ze’ev Prize (four times), and she was twice the winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for her literary work.

About illustrator

Rutu Modan is an Israeli illustrator and comic book artist. She is a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, and former editor of the Hebrew edition of MAD Magazine. She received a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for her book Exit Wounds in 2008.

About the translator

Tal Goldfajn is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She holds a PhD in General Linguistics from the University of Oxford. She is the author of, among others, Word Order and Time in Biblical Hebrew Narrative (Oxford University Press), and a co-editor of a special issue on Translation and History in Latin America published by the Estudios Interdisciplinarios de America Latina y el Caribe (Tel Aviv University). Her translations of Nelson Rodrigues (from Brazilian Portuguese) and Sergi Belbel (from Spanish and Catalan) have been published (Asia Publishers) and staged in Tel Aviv.

Book Details

Hardcover: $22.99
ISBN: 9781632062116
Publication date: Oct 15, 2019
9” x 11.5” • 36 pages

Other buying options

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

This book is published with the support of NYSCA

View the Illustrations