Naynay and the Mermaid by Tasma Walton, illustrated by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis

Title: Naynay and the Mermaid

Author: Tasma Walton, illustrated by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st October 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 24

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: ‘With long tendrils of seagrass for hair, her body is blue green like the sea, and her tail sparkles with iridescent scales …’

Naynay and her family are diving for abalone. Her mother tells her to keep watch for one of the water spirits who protect the seas. Naynay sees the splash of a tail. Could it possibly be … a mermaid? Join Naynay on her magical underwater adventure, drawing on the stories of the Boonwurrung people of coastal Melbourne.

~*~

Naynay dives for abalone with her family, and they’re doing just that when Naynay is watching for the water spirits. One day, she’s watching from the rocks when she sees a flash of silver, and is whisked away by a mermaid from Sea Country called Korri. Naynay’s underwater adventure explores Country above and below the sea, and the relationships that Indigenous people have with the land and the sea, and the stories they tell. Naynay’s story is delightful and warm, gentle and comforting. It’s another brilliant picture book that celebrates Country and culture, and the connections Indigenous people have to places in Australia.

Mermaids are common in fiction, because they have always had a place in folklore and fairytales worldwide. Every culture or nation with a connection to water will have had stories or versions of myths about mermaids, selkies, or other similar beings and creatures that show how people interacted with or understood the sea and what it gave to people. It’s something that nations with coasts grapple with in their stories across the world, and every story has different elements, and different implications for interacting with sea folk. It’s always interesting to see what these can mean, and reactions range from fear to respect. The latter is a key aspect of Naynay’s story.

It was a delight to read Tasma’s new story that I think will appeal to many readers. I got to learn some more Bunurong/Boonwurrung language, which is seamlessly used in the story and included in a handy glossary at the back. For me, I was able to work out most words based on their connection to the image, and confirmed these and the few I wasn’t sure about when I read them in the back. It’s a very lyrical story too, which suits the oral tradition that Indigenous people’s stories came from, as well as the overall oral tradition that many cultures used until it was easier to read, especially with the rise of education.

It captures the magic of mermaid stories with Indigenous culture and knowledge, ad it’s all accompanied by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis’s evocative and delightful illustrations that leap of the page. They’re realistic, which makes their magic truly special, and they feel like they are moving with the words. Charmaine’s illustrations bring the story to life, as a good illustrator often does and it really makes the story special. What I love about stories like this is the knowledge they share and impart, and they are a good way to spark conversations, increase representation, and raise voices that might not have been heard in the past. I think it’s a story that different readers will read on different levels, and everyone will get something out of it that means something to them. It’s also a really good story that can send readers on an adventure into new worlds and times. Another great mermaid book, and I loved seeing different representations of mermaids in this book as well.