A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow (review)

Stringfellow, Lisa A Comb of Wishes. Quill Tree/HarperCollins, 2022 [272p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063043435 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063043459 $8.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 4-6

Grieving for her mother's death, twelve-year-old Kela has pushed away her father, her artistic aspirations, and her connections to vibrant life on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Rita. When she finds a box containing an old, beautiful comb, its owner, an ancient mermaid named Ophidia, is desperate to get it back: it's the soul cage in which she treasures the stolen soul that keeps her young. Ophidia offers Kela a wish in exchange for the comb, but Kela's wish that her mother be restored to life has unforeseen consequences, and human interference keeps preventing her from returning the comb as promised, leading to potential disaster for the whole island. Kela's primary narration allows for a harmonious blend of contemporary island life and Afro-Caribbean lore, while chapters focusing on Ophidia draw on elements of Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." The third-person narration of the interspersed sections echoes a rhythmic traditional call-and-response that links the teller and the listener ("I say Crick, you say Crack. Crick. Crack. This is a story.… Crick. Crack. The story is put on you"). A note from the author augments the book's ecological and historical threads and argues for the importance of children's books by BIPOC creators.