Bad news, folks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently debunked the myth of the mermaid once and for all in an announcement on its website, declaring, “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.”
Fortunately for those of us who can recite every bit of dialogue from The Little Mermaid, there are a handful of teen fiction titles sure to satisfy our curiosity about these mythical creatures.
Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
On her upcoming seventeenth birthday, half-mermaid Tempest Maguire has to make a choice: stay on land or succumb to the sea. Her romance with a cute surfer and an underwater battle with a sea witch complicate Tempest’s decision. This book is especially appealing to fans of paranormal romance.
Hannah by Kathryn Lasky 
In 1899, 15-year-old orphan Hannah is working as a maid in the home of a wealthy Boston family, where she starts to discover her roots and is inexplicably drawn to the ocean. This is the first book in the Daughters of the Sea series.
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
Fourteen-year-old Luce expects to die when she falls into the icy waters near her Alaskan fishing village – instead she is transformed into a mermaid. Luce meets several other lost mermaid girls and is thrilled with her new underwater community, until she discovers they are using their lovely voices to lure humans to their deaths.
The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova 
Tristan Hart is sucked out to sea by a giant wave, and when he returns to land three days later, he is haunted by dreams of a silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth. The mermaids in this book are not the Disney variety – they’re dark, sinister, care little for humanity – and Tristan is trapped between them and the human girl he loves.
