Book Sharing Monday :: Mermaid Queen

Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Forturne, & Swimsuit History is written by Shana Corey and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. The bright colours are what attracted me to this book first when it was sitting on the library display shelf! I then found out that it was a true story. I really enjoy learning about other people with my chidren.

Anne Kellerman was a very interesting woman, a woman who made waves in the early 1900s. She is credited with inventing the modern swimsuit and the water ballet (synchronized swimming). She especially wanted to make swimming accessible to women and show them what they could do. She travelled with her father from her home in Australia to promote swimming but it wasn't easy at first.

Her story is wonderful, especially for young girls. It shows that even if things get difficult to keep on trying. Annette had decided to cross the English Channel, but didn't make it to France, but people still were amazing that she had done as much as she did! When she was asked to perform in front of English royaly, she was told she couldn't go on because her bare legs were showing, she quickly found a solution and did her performance!

"Swimming and diving filled Annette with joy. She wanted to show other girls how wonderful they could be."

You can find more information on Annette Kellerman's life by googling her name. She had a big influence in women's swimsuit fashion and the change from being completely covered (stockings, shoes, bloomers and bathing dresses) to swimsuits that were much more appropriate for swimming. She became a film star, she even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! She was a role model for health and fitness for women. Wikipedia has a short interesting biography and I found a video on youtube showing some of her underwater movie performances:







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