Rosa and the Water Pony is sure to be a hit with fans of mermaid stories.  Rosa and her friends Melody, Sula, and Jasmine decide to enter a contest with a pearl necklace as the grand prize.  Rosa’s cousin, Coral, arrives just as they start to put their plan into action.  With Coral’s help, they use magic to transform a seahorse into a water pony.  Mean sisters, Myrtle and Muriel, come to watch.  As they practice riding with flips and twists, Coral out-rides them all.  Rosa’s feelings are hurt and she quickly swims away.  The next day, Rosa is still gone and Sparkle, the water pony is missing.  The mermaids find a note, supposedly from Rosa, suggesting that Sparkle is in Five Fathom Forest, a place full of sea monsters.  The search includes some surprising twists.  The friends reunite, perform with joy, and win the competition.  With large font and Tom Knight’s pen and ink line drawings on every page, beginning readers will enjoy this transition from picture to chapter books.  This is book one in the Mermaid Mysteries series.  Subsequent books focus on each of the other mermaid friends.