"In a romantic folktale drawn from various African-American traditions, a beautiful brown-skinned, black-eyed mermaid saves a poor, unhappy girl. Sukey's step-pa's a bossy do-nothing man who drinks and works her too hard. When she cries for help, a mermaid hears her and takes her below the sea to a gentle place without time or pain. But Sukey longs to return to the world".--Booklist. Full color.
A mermaid offers a young girl a magical escape in this lushly told and luminously illustrated Coretta Scott King Honor-winning picture book.

Sukey's new step-pa is a mean, bossy man she calls "Mister Hard-Times." He makes her work in his garden all day and Sukey's ma doesn't seem to care. One day, when her step-pa isn't looking, Sukey takes her chance to run away to her secret hiding place by the sea.

There, she meets Mama Jo, a beautiful black mermaid. Mama Jo's got a surprise for Sukey: a magical kingdom beneath the sea without time or pain. But there are also no people. Is it really better than the world above?