Abbott, Ellen Jensen. Watersmeet. Marshall Cavendish. 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7614-5536-3. Gr 7 Up.
-- School Library Journal, 5/6/2009
Watersmeet tells the story of a girl who is an outcast because of her physical appearance and the fact that she doesn’t have a father. The only thing keeping her alive is the fact that her mother is a healer. When the village she grew up in decides to mob the village and kill off all outcasts who are forced to live at the outskirts of town, Abisina and her mother must run away to find her father. However, Abisina loses her mother in the mob; she was shot and killed.The necklace which her unknown father gave her mother seemingly called out to her in the ashes of the burnt corpses of outcasts. This is what helps to lead Abisina to where she will meet her companion, the dwarf Haret, and his grandmother. At the end of her journey to Watersmeet—the place of her father—Abisina finds the “creatures.” She discovers that the dwarves, centaurs, and others that were badly spoken of are more than the gossip would suggest. However, the blissful world of Watersmeet is soon tainted with the knowledge of an upcoming battle against Charach, an ancient threat to the lives of all beings.
It is an interesting twist that when Abisina finds her father, she discovers that he is one of the centaurs—a shape shifter that is able to turn human. She's afraid of centaurs after losing her little toe to one that lived in the South where she was raised. There, people believed if you had golden hair and blue eyes you were perfect in the eyes of their “Savior.“ 
The cover depicts a girl who represents the main character. Abisina is from the South, a brunette with green eyes, and was an outcast because of it. Her physical features play a role in the novel.
I wasn’t able to finish the book because I ran out of time, but I was not disappointed. Though this book may not be the best of the collection, it is an enjoyable read.—Manee T., age 16
