AR level 3.9; 7 points
Age group: 8–12 years of age
Middle Grade

This needs to be in every teacher's library! It is phenomenal. Excellent characters with great development, the right amount of action, good dialogue, and a great way to address diversity and the prejudice handed down within families in a subtle, non-threatening manner. The world-building is richly developed and perfect for imaginative readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, Liz Kessler, and Candlewick Press for giving me the chance to read this story and share my honest thoughts and opinions with others.

This is the first book I've read in this series but was easy to follow and get into as a stand alone. Such a fun story and really well written.

Sam and his crew were definitely some of my new favorite characters! If another book is added on to the series, I would love to see them again!

Unfortunately, I think I've reached a point where I don't really care whether Emily and Aaron are together or not, which actually makes me sad, because I loved them at first, but I think they have just both grown to a point where it doesn't work as well anymore and they need to do their own thing. The way this book ended was definitely a good one, just for that reason, I think. I love what Aaron and his mother are going to do, and the fact that Emily has matured enough to make the decision that she did was really good character development.

Overall, this book was definitely a fun one! I've really enjoyed reading this series over the past few months, even at 19, and I definitely recommend it!

I love middle grade fiction. It's one of my favorite genres, This book stands out from the rest though. While it was a fun story, it contained a level of maturity that is often lacking in middle grade fiction. I am going to be looking into reading other books in this series, for sure!

Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince is the 8th book in a series chronicling the adventures of Emily, a spunky half-mer (half human, half mermaid). Throughout this series we’ve witnessed her coming to terms with who she is, learning the history of her family, making best friends with a mermaid named Shona, and rescuing and meeting her half-mermaid boyfriend, Aaron. In each book, Emily has overcome life-threatening obstacles, saving mermaids, humans, and even the Sea King Neptune, who has inadvertently given her special powers that rival his own. The fandom is strong with this series — it has spanned 15 years, so parents and teachers who read this 15 years ago (when they were teens and tweens) are enjoying sharing their passion with the next generation as the more recent books were released. In addition to friendship and loyalty, these books strongly address finding where we belong (noted themes of racism and being mixed-race), conflict resolution, and finding your voice.

In Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince, book #8, Emily is still only 13 years old and must face yet another shocking challenge that includes adventure, mystery, treasure, and young romance. She is with her mother on a fancy cruise when their ship is attacked by pirates. Aaron is missing and, when forced to return to their rooms, Emily is separated from her mother. Now Emily must find a way to slip away and discover as many details about the raid party before deciding whether to offer her services to the pirates in exchange for Aaron’s return. But what can Emily offer a ship of rowdy pirates who openly detest mermaids?

It was easy to fall back into Kessler’s comfortable writing in this 8th book. Her scenes are so well described that I can vividly see it all in my mind. As is true of most of the books in this middle grade series, it could probably be a stand alone novel for newcomers. Nevertheless, I believe it’s helpful to know the history to understand who Emily, Aaron, and Shona are — at least books #1, #2, and #3. I’ll also mention that I read some of these books with my eyes and listened to others as audiobooks, so I can happily vouch for the audiobook rendition narrated by Finty Williams.

This book in the series is a bit different for two reasons. First, Emily is separated from her mother, father, Aaron, Shona, and any other already-known Windsnap characters for most of the story. Second, there’s a bit of boyfriend conflict that I don’t recall happening to this extent in the 5 other books I read in this series. This even made me apprehensive and I had no idea how that would resolve until the very end. Otherwise, the book followed a similar pattern to the previous books in the series — with a clever, feisty, non-conforming Emily who, despite facing plenty of fantasy racism, is up to just about any task in order to save the day.

My thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for giving me an ARC of this book so that I could provide an honest review. Be sure to check out Liz Kessler’s website to learn more about her characters, her travels and inspiration for each book, the research that went into the books, and you can even take a quiz to discover “How Mer Are You?”.

EMILY WINDSNAP AND THE PIRATE PRINCE is the first book in the series that I've ever read. I think I own a couple of the others, books I bought when my own older reader was the right age to enjoy them, but we never got around to reading them. I enjoyed the book. It was a super quick read, and even had a few unexpected twists. Emily makes a spunky, fun narrator and the plot moves quickly through a series of challenges as Emily and her team of pirates race toward the treasure and Sam's chance to be the next pirate king.

I think the series is a great fit for fans of The Frog Princess books or CLIFTON CHASE AND THE ARROW OF LIGHT by Jaimie Engle.

The Emily Windsnap books are childhood favorites. If I could be any mythical creature, I'd be a half-mer.

I was so excited when I found out there was a fifth book with Emily and Co. Then I found out about a sixth. Recently, I was talking to a friend who said she thought there were more. Lo and behold, there were TWO more.

The Pirate Prince was much better than the last installment in this series. I liked the story line and it was interesting to me. I DO NOT LIKE the ending!!!!! That did not make me very happy.

I think that maybe this series is actually done know, but we'll see. One of my favorite things about these books is that they are so clean. There is a super light romance and Emily does lie sometimes, but I feel good recommending these to anyone (probably a girl, since I don't think a boy would enjoy them).

A nice book, but I like the earlier ones more. I may also just be kind of outgrowing them and am only really interested for nostalgia's sake :)

I had my son (7) read this to me because he loves all things ocean and he loved it! He loved seeing the pirate life and the pirates race to find the treasure! He was happy Emily enjoyed pirate life because he thinks pirates are awesome too. Emily always seems to find her way in life and I enjoyed listening to my son engaged in the story!

This book was received as an ARC from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Our young readers love the Emily Windsnap series and the adventures she gets herself into. This time it involves her boyfriend Aaron getting kidnapped by a bunch of pirates and in order to save him, she finds herself on the same ship befriending the Pirates especially the son of the captain. Now because she has feelings for the captain's son, she has to choose to join the Pirate life or live a life of her own as a mermaid. This one by far was my favorite Emily Windsnap because it reminded me a lot of the Little Mermaid, my favorite Disney movie of all time and I know fans of that movie will appreciate this book too.

We will consider adding this title to our JFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Such a cute addition to the Emily Windsnap series!

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book is part of a series but I found that the author catches you up so well that you don't need to read the rest to know what is going on but I imagine it would certainly help. I really loved reading this book. It had a strong storyline with great characters and this has certainly made me want to read the rest of the books in the series. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future. Wonderful writing and I look forward to carrying on with the series.

Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince is actually book #8 in this cute little series. The first book is The Tail of Emily Windsnap. I would highly recommend this book for girls, probably ages 8-12!

Emily is a young girl whose father is a merman and her mother is human. That makes her half mermaid. Because of this, she turns into a mermaid anytime that she touches water. Her best friend Shona is also a mermaid and her boyfriend, Aaron, is half like her! (This reminds me a lot of the TV series H20 with the girls who turn into mermaids when they are touched by water).

In this novel, Emily is returning home by cruise ship with Aaron and her mom after their last adventure. Their relaxing vacation takes a turn for the worse when their cruise ship is overtaken by a pirate king and his crew. While stealing everyone's riches, they decide to steal Aaron, something even more valuable to Emily than gold. The pirate king's eldest son takes Aaron captive in hopes that his knowledge of the area can help guide his crew to the mythical Trident's Treasure.


Mermaid inspired art by Instagram's @art.periwinkle
Emily, in order to try and save Aaron, joins the younger's sons crew. While experiencing life on the sea, Emily realizes that she actually enjoys the life of a pirate and bonds with Sam, the pirate king's son. She helps Sam unravel riddles in order to beat his brother to the treasure and help save Aaron. But along the way, Emily discovers that she needs to be true to herself. What will that look like in regards to her mermaid life and her friends??

Emily definitely acts and talks like a teenage girl. It was nice to have a female protagonist who is rescuing her boyfriend instead of the other way around. She is very capable at handling herself. This book was a little young for my taste. But like I said, I think that anyone who loves mermaids and adventure between the ages of 8 and 12 would love a book like this. It's very fun with a lot of emphasis on the themes of friendship, loyalty, and self-discovery.

And I haven't read the rest of the series but if the others are anything like this, readers will be in for a really fun treat.

I enjoy the Emily Windsnap series and I was very excited for this latest book. They all seem to follow a basic formula and Emily saves the day. Which is comforting in some ways. It definitely feels like meeting an old friend. Personally I always thought she was too young for a boyfriend. I also feel like her parental relationships are a bit off. I generally recommend this series to girls around 5th grade. PS I named my kayak Emily Windsnap :)

I fell in love with this cover and had to read this mermaid tale! I had no idea before requesting this title that this is the eighth installment in this mermaid series, but it read great as a stand alone. Now that I know about this series, I do want to go back to the beginning and read the first one.
This was a fun story and quick read. If you like mermaids and pirate adventures, you’d enjoy this book!
Thank you to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for this fun ARC in exchange for my honest review, my opinions are my own.

This is the eighth book in the Emily Windsnap series, and my first introduction to the character. Reading the other books is not necessary to enjoying this one, but I still have no idea how old Emily is supposed to be. At times she comes across as an older teen, then other times she comes across as a pre-teen. It did lead to some confusing images in my head while reading. I loved Sam (the pirate prince) and the "strained" relationship between him, his brother, and his parents. It would be difficult being the son of a pirate. The book was a quick read and filled with action from the beginning. This is definitely a series I can see 4th or 5th graders getting involved in.

Thank you NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy.

Fun story! I love the character of Emily Windsnap. This was actually the first one that I read, but I will catch up with the series after enjoying this one.