Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Saunders
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Emotional fantasy about two girls who seize their power.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
When A SONG BELOW WATER begins, teen friends Tavia and Effie are living as sisters in Tavia's family home in Portland. Tavia is a siren with a powerful, magical voice -- a condition she inherited from her grandmother. Her father demands she keep her identity tightly under wraps because sirens, who are exclusively Black women and girls, are targeted as dangerous and evil. Effie lost her mother and dreams of stepping into the mother's role as a mermaid at the Renaissance Faire. When a woman is murdered, the perpetrator pleads self-defense on the grounds that his girlfriend was a siren. Meanwhile, Effie's mysterious physical symptoms and blackouts suggest that there's something more to her mother's mermaid costumes.
Is It Any Good?
Though it starts a little slow, this clever fantasy goes deep and stays there. Tavia and Effie, the main characters of A Song Below Water, by Bethany C. Morrow (author of MEM and editor of Take the Mic), are such believable teens that it's easy to follow them from swimming in a pool at the community center to flying around town in the wings of a gargoyle. Literal Black girl magic illuminates how young women can discover and embrace their real-life superpowers.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the role of keeping secrets in A Song Below Water. How do secrets protect people, and how do they harm?
Do you have a friend who understands you in a way that no one else does?
The author of A Song Below Water uses sustained metaphors to communicate her ideas. Did this help you understand the book's messages?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Friendship , School ( High School )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Tor Teen
- Publication date : June 6, 2020
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 288
- Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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