Deep in the water, Mr. Fish swims about With his fish face stuck In a permanent pout. Can his pals cheer him up? Will his pout ever end? Is there something he can learn From an unexpected friend? Swim along with the pout-pout fish as he discovers that being glum and spreading dreary wearies isn t really his destiny. Bright ocean colors and playful rhyme come together in this fun fish story that s sure to turn even the poutiest of frowns upside down. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

PreS-Gr 1-A rhythmic, rhyming text introduces a fish with a mouth that turns down at the corners and a correspondingly gloomy attitude. One by one, his ocean-dwelling friends try to cheer him up, but he resists their efforts with a pessimistic, yet snappy refrain: "I'm a pout-pout fish/With a pout-pout face,/So I spread the dreary-wearies/All over the place." Finally, a mysterious female fish approaches and silently plants a kiss "upon his pout." He is instantly struck by the epiphany that he is actually a "kiss-kiss fish/With a kiss-kiss face/For spreading cheery-cheeries/All over the place!" and demonstrates his newfound outlook by smooching his friends. Though the bouncy rhythm is appealing, many of the rhymes are forced, and the poetry doesn't always scan. On the positive side, the cartoon illustrations of undersea life are bright and clean and the protagonist's exaggerated expressions are entertaining. The layout is attractive, and the three-panel sequences showing the fish moping around during the refrain are especially well done.-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, MD Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information