- Graphic Novels
- Ages 10–14
- Fantasy
Plain Jane and the Mermaid
A bracingly funny, high-colour fairy-tale adventure that uses mermaids, monsters, and melodrama to talk about beauty standards and self-worth. It is a stronger fit for older middle-grade readers than for younger graphic-novel beginners.
- Best for10–14
- FormatGraphic
- Length368 pp
- Read aloud~2 hr55 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Adventurous
- Exciting
- Irreverent
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Jane has spent her life being told she is plain, and when her parents die, her cruel cousin is quick to push her aside and claim everything for himself. Jane thinks marriage to a handsome prince might be the only way to secure her future, but when the prince is kidnapped by a mermaid, she is forced into a far stranger rescue mission than she planned. Beneath the comedy and fairy-tale action is a story about beauty, worth, and the exhausting pressure to be desirable before being allowed to matter. Vera Brosgol gives Jane an adventure full of undersea danger, strange bargains, sharp visual humour, and emotional bite, building a fantasy quest where the heroine's real victory is not becoming beautiful, but becoming harder to diminish.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 10–14
- Read aloud · 9–13
- Independent · 10–14
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: death of parent, violence, scary imagery, body image.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
2 / 5 · Mild
Best for
- Older middle grade graphic novel
- Fairy tale subversion
- Body image discussion
- Funny fantasy quest
- Strong heroine
Avoid if
- Sensitive to beauty pressure
- Needs gentle fantasy
- Avoids parent death
Particularly good for children who are…
- Low self esteem
- Anxiety and worry
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A funny, feminist fairy-tale graphic novel — a reluctant-reader favourite that opens talk about self-worth and not being defined by looks.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is being called plain — Jane orphaned and pushed aside by a cruel cousin, marriage to the handsome prince her only safety net, the prince dragged into the sea by a mermaid forcing her into a much stranger rescue. The Vera Brosgol fairy tale where the real victory is becoming harder to diminish.
- Going on a quest
- Proving yourself
- Transformation
- The underdog winning
- Adventure and freedom
Why parents love it
The Vera Brosgol most ambitious graphic novel — reads like a feminist gothic, beauty-and-worth as the real subject under the undersea adventure, sharp visual humour with proper emotional bite. Older middle-grade rather than starter graphic novel; younger readers will miss the layer.
- Shared humour
- Conversation starter
- Great writing
About the author & illustrator
Vera Brosgol.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
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