Fiction

The Rainbow Fish

A timeless story about the joys of giving and the pleasures of friendship. Hardcover.

If you read this very popular book just before bed, and the light is still on in the hallway, you can make the rainbow scales glitter on the page, and realize why the Rainbow Fish was so proud of his beautiful decoration. Sometimes, though, being too proud of outside beauty can blind a fish, or a child (or even, heaven forbid, a parent) to the beauty people hold inside. That's the lesson of this simple tale, imported from Switzerland. It's a useful one for future sneaker and designer clothing shoppers, for rainbow fish--and for quieter, plainer minnows, too.

Simon's Hook; A Story About Teases and Put-downs

Simon is having a bad day; a bad hair day. First his sister gives him a strange hair cut, then his friends tease him. Simon doesn't know what to do. Lucky for him he runs into Grandma Rose. After listening to his sorrowful story she helps him learn an important life lesson; how to handle teases and put-downs. By comparing teases to fishing hooks she tells him a tale of how fish learned not to bite. With fanciful characters such as Harmony Hippy Fish, Freddie Fang, Max the Mouse Fish and more, Simon learns that he, too, can swim free from the teasing hooks that people toss his way.

Swimmy (Knopf Children's Paperbacks)

Illus. in color. "An exquisite picture book. A little fish, the lone survivor of a school of fish swallowed by a tuna, devises a plan to camouflage himself and his new companions."--(starred) School Library Journal.  

Curious George at the Aquarium (Curious George)

Splash! The aquarium is a big place for a little monkey, and there is so much to see. George's curiosity soon helps him to make lots of penguin friends . . . and lots of trouble! The paperback edition includes educational fun facts about aquariums and sea life, provided by the director of the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. Bonus activities in the paperback edition include a maze and a word jumble. For more fun with George, check out www.curiousgeorge.com and get all the latest news and information about Curious George, books, promotions, games, activities, and more!

McElligot's Pool (Classic Seuss)

McElligot's Pool is a Seuss classic from the distant era before even The Cat In The Hat. It's a single poetic variation on the theme of adult skepticism that's no match for childhood faith and daydreaming. A small boy is fishing in the tiny, unpromising McElligot's Pool, a puddle that (as a passing farmer informs our diminutive hero) is nothing but a hole where people dispose of their junk. But the boy is all optimism: what if the pool is deeper than anyone thinks? What if it connects to an underground stream that flows under the town to the sea? Might not all sorts of fish then swim up the stream and be caught here? "I might catch an eel... (Well, I might. It depends.) A long twisting eel with a lot of strange bends. And, oddly enough, with a head at both ends!" The moral of the story is straightforward: "If I wait long enough, if I'm patient and cool,/ Who knows what I'll catch in McElligot's pool?" (Ages 4 to 8) --Richard Farr

Illus. in color. Who knows what fantastic fish might swim in McElligot's Pool!

One Fish, Two Fish, Three, Four, Five Fish (Dr. Seuss Nursery Collection)

One fish, two fish, three, four, five . . . This one has a car to drive!
This bouncy counting board book comes with five beads shaped like Seussian fish that toddlers can move across the top of the book as they count along. Based on Dr. Seuss’s celebrated classic, this sturdy board book will be a hit with all the little fish in your family!

Mister Seahorse

Are you ready for a scintillating seahorse fact? The father seahorse is the one who carries the mother's eggs around in his pouch before they hatch. In Mister Seahorse, master collage artist Eric Carle teaches preschoolers this lesson and introduces them to a few other fish who bear the traditionally maternal burden of caring for eggs: the stickleback, tilapia, Kurtus nurseryfish (known here as Mr. Kurtus), pipefish, and bullhead catfish. As ever, it's Carle's art that steals the show. Cut-up tissue paper soaks up the watery paint and makes for a boldly colorful, almost jewel-like undersea journey. The story? Well, repetition is the heart of instruction, after all.

Most of Carle's books employ some sort of gizmo or gadget--and this one is no exception. Here, for a splendid lesson in camouflage, colorful acetate sheets mask marine life that is revealed as the child turns the page. Children may take comfort in the devotion of these undersea fathers...except perhaps at the very end when the father seahorse says to a freshly hatched sea-pony who wants back in the pouch: "I do love you, but now you are ready to be on your own." (Preschool) --Karin Snelson

When Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs on Mr. Seahorse's belly, she knows he will take good care of them-especially since he gets advice from other fatherly fish. Featuring colorfully surprising acetate overlays, Eric Carle has created a beautiful book, filled with the wonders of aquatic life.

A Fish Out of Water

Illus. in color. "Comic pictures show how the fish rapidly outgrows its bowl, a vase, a cook pot, a bathtub."--The New York Times.  

Commotion in the Ocean

“There’s a curious commotion, at the bottom of the ocean; I think we ought to go and take a look. You’ll find every sort of creature, that lives beneath the sea; swimming through the pages of this book.” The sequel to the best-selling “Rumble in the Jungle”, this delightful new collection of poems includes fun rhymes about the creatures who live in and around the ocean. Children will delight in the snappy poems and colorful illustrations about whales, walruses, penguins, polar bears, stingrays and sharks.

Fish is Fish

A tadpole and a minnow are underwater friends, but the tadpole grows legs and explores the world beyond the pond and then returns to tell his fish friend about the new creatures he sees. The fish imagines these creatures as bird-fish and people-fish and cow-fish and is eager to join them.