Lilly and Fin: A Mermaid's Tale (German Title: Lilli and Fin) is a Children's Book by Cornelia Funke.
The story is about Lilly and Fin, a pair of merpups (mer-children) who like hanging out together in a cave outside of Mermaid City, despite hearing from all the adults about how there are giant krakens and Two-Legs (read: humans) outside the safety of the city. The two are convinced that such beings don't exist, and that the adults made them up to scare merpups into behaving. They've taken to hanging out outside the city quite often.
Mr. and Mrs. Snorkel are a married couple who have one hobby that binds them together: collecting fish. They have a massive aquarium in their home that's practically stuffed with some of the rarest fish in the world. And what fish they can't fit into it, they've placed in jars of water that are all over their house. One particularly rare species of fish has eluded them for the longest time, though. However, with the help of famous underwater detective Ignatius Harkenear, the two have finally found it. The three then set out in the Snorkels' private submarine to snatch up this fish.
The mermaid.
And thus, these two groups collide.
The book was published on May 16th, 2017.
Lilly and Fin: A Mermaid's Tale contains examples of:
- Black Dot Pupils: All the characters in the book have black dot pupils, likely to go with the illustrations.
- Deer in the Headlights: When Fin and Lilly see the Snorkels' massive submarine coming at them, Lilly immediately books it. Fin, however, is shocked still by the sight of it, allowing the sub to capture him.
- Distressed Dude: Fin gets kidnapped by the Snorkels and Detective Harkenear in the middle of the book.
- Derelict Graveyard: In chapter 3, it's stated that the mermaid people of the book live in a bunch of ships that sunk into the coral reef.
- Escape Pod: When the Kraken starts attacking the submarine, the Snorkels and Detective Harkenear immediately make their way to the submarine's escape pod, which has an appearance that brings frogs to mind. The Kraken grabs hold of the escape pod as well.
- Gentle Giant: The Kraken Lilly meets is a very gentle soul who's disgusted at the thought of eating merpups when she tells it to him. He helps her save her friend Fin from the Snorkels and Detective Harkenear.
- Hair Colors: Merpeople have hair in a large variety of colours. Fin's hair is blue, Lilly's hair is orange and yellow and green, and her father's hair is pink, red, and orange.
- Kraken and Leviathan: All the mermaids know about Krakens is that they're giant tentacled creatures that like eating merpups. When Lilly meets one, he turns out to be a very friendly fellow who's disgusted at the thought. He also helps Lilly save Fin from the Snorkels and Detective Harkenear.
- Name and Name: Lilly and Fin.
- Spider-Sense: Whenever Fin's scales get itchy, he takes it to mean something bad is about to happen. Lilly is always skeptical of this, despite previous incidents that apparently proved Fin right.
