Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Blake, Ashley Herring

A poignant yet hopeful novel about a girl navigating grief, trauma, and friendship, from Ashley Herring Blake, the award-winning author of Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World.

Hazel Bly used to live in the perfect house with the perfect family in sunny California. But when a kayaking trip goes horribly wrong, Mum is suddenly gone forever and Hazel is left with crippling anxiety and a jagged scar on her face. After Mum's death, Hazel, her other mother, Mama, and her little sister, Peach, need a fresh start. So for the last two years, the Bly girls have lived all over the country, never settling anywhere for more than a few months.

When the family arrives in Rose Harbor, Maine, there's a wildness to the small town that feels like magic. But when Mama runs into an old childhood friend--Claire--suddenly Hazel's tight-knit world is infiltrated. To make it worse, she has a daughter Hazel's age, Lemon, who can't stop rambling on and on about the Rose Maid, a local 150-year-old mermaid myth.

Soon, Hazel finds herself just as obsessed with the Rose Maid as Lemon is--because what if magic were real? What if grief really could change you so much, you weren't even yourself anymore? And what if instead you emerged from the darkness stronger than before?

Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 05/25/2021
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 7.95h x 5.50w x 1.25d
ISBN: 9780316535458
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.8
Point Value: 11
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 512776 / Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/29/2021
Booklist 04/15/2021 pg. 54
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 06/01/2021
School Library Journal 06/01/2021 pg. 57
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2021 pg. 105
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2021 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Ashley Herring Blake is the author of the young adult novels Suffer Love, How to Make a Wish, and Girl Made of Stars, as well as the Stonewall honor novel Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World, The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James, and Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea. Ashley lives in Georgia with her husband and two sons