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Barry the Fish with Fingers

by Sue Hendra
40p. 978-0-37585-894-9.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2—Slug enjoys lying on the ocean floor observing the different fish as they swim by. He takes note of their diverse sizes, shapes, and colors and figures he has seen everything—until Barry arrives. Barry has fingers at the ends of his fins. He claims that his new appendages are "the answer to every fish's problem." The problem, it turns out, is boredom. Barry demonstrates all of the wonderful things he can do with his fingers, such as count, knit, type, paint, and play the piano. He even saves the others' lives when he points out a heavy object that is plummeting to the sea floor, and they can scatter before it lands on them. The box, it turns out, is filled with Pirate Jack's Tasty Fish Sticks, which enable the other fish to obtain fingers like Barry's. The book's pages are filled with bright, cartoonish, gouache illustrations. Children who enjoyed Marcus Pfister's "Rainbow Fish" books (NorthSouth) will enjoy Barry.—Donna Atmur, Los Angeles Public Library
While fish Barry demonstrates various uses of his "fingers," he inadvertently saves his underwater friends from being crushed by a crate of "Pirate Jack's Tasty Fish Sticks." Revolving around a play on words that doesn't survive Americanizing, this isn't an especially substantive offering. Hendra's comedic timing is sound, however, and her gouache illustrations depict sea creatures swimming with personality.
Reviewed by Donna Atmur , Jul 01, 2010

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