Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea
Ashley Herring Blake
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published May 25, 2021
Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads
About Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea
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?
My Review
This book has been on my reading list for a long time. I finally managed to read it in a book club with other KidLit reviewers, which was a super exciting experience. I get to talk about a book that I read with other humans who have read it! JOY!
Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea is one of those books that has a lot going on in it, but the author manages the flow of information, character development, and pacing so well that I didn’t really notice just how much was going on until sitting down to write this review.
The book has a hair of magical realism in it, which I loved. It’s kind of there and up to you what you believe about what happened. It’s left open to interpretation, which I loved.
The characters were really nicely done. Hazel meets three kids who are all part of an Ocean Club summer program. One girl, Lemon, is so enthusiastic. I loved the way that her enthusiasm made her resilient and helped her bulldoze past some of Hazel’s grief-driven frostiness. I also loved Lemon’s two closest friends. They’re protective of Lemon in a way that makes so much sense as we learn about their lives and the history of their friendship.
Hazel’s relationship with Mama was such a tender part of this book, too. It was hard to read some of the earlier scenes with those two in them. It’s so clear they are not communicating and that Mama doesn’t grasp what’s going on with Hazel and the deep, unhealed grief and trauma she’s carrying. It feels like she thinks if she ignores Hazel’s anxiety, it’ll go away. That struck a chord for me.
I loved the overall message about how grief changes you and how we need each other as we grieve. I also loved how new relationships, while scary, can be healing, not only for ourselves. In new relationships, we find opportunities to bring healing to others, too.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
Some feelings of attraction between one character and another. Adults kissing.
Spiritual Content
Hazel’s mom attends a Summer Solstice party.
Violent Content
Hazel describes a kayaking accident that left her injured and her mum dead. References to a boat sinking and killing passengers a long time ago. Hazel experiences a panic attack.
Drug Content
Hazel hears her mom agree to another glass of wine while on the phone with her.
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I loved this book too, Kasey, for pretty much the same reasons you did. I’m always interested in how kids deal with the flawed adults in their lives, in this case a surviving parent who’s unable to reach out to her own daughter because of the ways she (the mother) is avoiding her own grief.
I loved how Hering Blake does not underestimate her audience of older MG/younger YA readers. Adults sometimes may not want kids to read difficult books, but kids definitely need them. This one’s a keeper.
Yes! I totally agree that she didn’t underestimate her audience. It takes a lot of trust in your readers to tell a story like this. Definitely a keeper, as you say!