As always, the illustrations of Pinkney are detailed and Caldecott winning deservable.

Cultivated from a number of sources such as West Africa. Caribbean folklore, it is noted that the term "Water Mother" is another name for Mermaid. I've read many of books containing the beautiful, creative works of Pinkney, most of which contain African American history.

In this story, a young girl named Sukey is misused by her mother's husband called "Mister Jones." Mister Jones beats Sukey's mother and makes Sukey perform all inside and outside tasks. Hoeing the land, pulling weeds from the property property. Mr. Jones is not shy in threatening Sukey to work faster lest she is whipped with the stick.

One day Sukey grows weary, throwing down the hoe, she ran until she found the beach. Somewhere she heard of, and memorized the song

Thee, thee, down below,
Come to me, Mama Jo!!"

When a very beautiful dark-skinning mermaid appears from the Ocean, Sukey befriends her and is taken on a trip down, down, down to the ocean where she sees marvelous trinkets and gold coins from a long ago pirate ship. Sukey, receives a gold coin rom Mama Jo. Taking it home only leads to greed and threats from Mister Jones that she must go back and demand more. The step father and Sukey's mother take a boat out by the shore and call Mama Jo. When she appears, they try to capture her with a net. As a result, Mama Jo does not listen to Sukey's repeated calls.

One night in a dream, Mama Jo appears to Sukey promising to take her down to live with her beneath the sea. Missing Mama Jo, and weary of all the whippings and hard labor, she allows Mama Jo to hold on to her and to travel the deep places in the sea. Soon Sukey misses the sun, the feel of soil, and sounds of voices.

Granting her wish, Sukey is told by the mermaid that she will be sought by many, but only should answer the the love of Dembo. Afraid Dembo will get all the coins, Mr. Jones steals them, and in addition he kills him.

Mama Jo agrees to bring Dembo back from death. Hereater, Sukey finds happiness. Sukey never again sees the mermaid, except for the sight of green scales, and the sound of laughter far out to the sea, ( )

This is the amazing story of Sukey the mermaid, drawn from various African Americanstories, who befriends Mama Jo a mermaid in the sea because her father is a mean and evil man. Sukey finds a friend and mentor in Mama Jo and learns about goodness and love overcoming all things.

Unhappy with her life at home, Sukey receives kindness and wealth from Mama Jo the mermaid ( )

Sukey has a step-pa and he is very mean to her. He makes her work all day and gets mad if she even stops to take a break. There is one place that she can go to get away...the ocean. She can call up Mama Jo who is a beautiful mermaid. Mama Jo offers to take her away to a beautiful place under the sea. The only bad thing is...there are no people there. Sukey must make a decision whether to go there and get away from her step-pa or figure out how to make life with people a better place to be.

The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. Pinkney does a brilliant job using a scratch board technique that is very unique.

The folk tale is based on a compilation of similar stories told from West Africa to the Carribean islands. ( )

This is a well-fleshed out fairy tale, with Cinderella elements. Beautiful language and pictures. Bit wordy, though - save it for kids with a good attention span. ( )