Barry the Fish with Fingers

May 24, 2010
Hendra's (Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli) extended play on words (where else would fish fingers come from?) provides TV cartoon–flavored entertainment for the very young. Barry, a cheerful blue fish, appears with 10 fish fingers—which look like they've been fried to golden perfection— and shows Sea Slug and a group of bored fish the many things fingers can do. "With fingers I can... Knit a scarf! Count to ten! Type a letter! Make a paper chain!" Even better, Barry's fingers can also point to danger, as when a crate of Pirate Jack's Tasty Fish Sticks falls to the ocean floor. Thanks to Barry's warning, all the fish get out of the way in time and are shortly equipped with fingers of their own. Hendra's big flat fish and tropical colors shine out from the deep blue of the ocean water, while googly eyes and varying shapes provide lots of visual interest. Not much happens, but this unrelentingly cheerful outing at least has the virtue of being free of conflict—it's G-rated bedtime reading for even the littlest sardines. Ages 4–8.

July 1, 2010
K-Gr 2—-lug 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"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
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.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)