A child with wide glasses camps with her mother and long-snouted dog on the banks of a small lagoon. At twilight, the child wonders if -way down deep,/ there are mermaids fast asleep?- Soon enough, -mermothers, merfathers too/ with golden eyes and hair of blue- appear under the surface (or in the child-s imagination?), gently cradling their children and resting comfortably in cozy underwater nooks. Joining the merfamilies are pink and blue dolphins, fish, and coral. The mermaids settle down for bed: -breathing water like it-s air/ way down deep, down deep, down there.- As nighttime descends, the child, too, sleeps. Persico-s candy-colored illustrations and Riding-s bobbing verse provide a soothing mermaid fantasy. Ages 2-6. (Apr.)