Review by Booklist Review
Ages 3-5. Ehlert's sense of color and graphic design is amazing. Following in the footsteps of Color Zoo [BKL My 15 89] and Eating the Alphabet [BKL Mr 15 89], she makes another startling presentation that is, perhaps, her best work to date. Fish Eyes, a counting book, follows a familiar form, which the artist dresses with compelling color and design. A lilting rhyme prefaces the counting action and primes kids to count the fish: "If I could put on a suit of scales, / add some fins and one of these tails, / I'd close my eyes and then I'd wish / that I'd turn into a beautiful fish." An added element--cut-out eyes that peek through to the next page--adds fun, but it's the dramatic effect of the brilliant tropical colors of the fish against a polished navy background that makes the book a show stopper. All the while an exceedingly unobtrusive little fish whispers asides (printed in dark colors for effect) that ease each page into the next--another ploy to keep young eyes alert. A visual treat from start to finish. --Denise Wilms
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
``If you could truly have a wish, would you wish to be a fish?'' This question, posed at the end of Ehlert's ( Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ) latest, typically tropical-hued offering, will be answered with resounding affirmatives from captivated readers. In deepest ocean waters (midnight-blue pages) swim gaudy denizens of the deep, waiting to be enumerated by the child who ``could put on a suit of scales, add some fins and one of these tails.'' Counting has seldom been so painlessly presented, and each page incorporates a simple arithmetic lesson, as the aquatic voyager adds him- or herself to the marine groupings. Ehlert's sense of fun is surpassed here only by her sense of color: in brilliant greens, purples, oranges and pinks--to name but a few--she presents in lighthearted rhyme an amazing, appealing aquarium. For enjoyment and education, Fish Eyes can be counted on indeed. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-- Stylized fish shapes in flat, razzle-dazzle colors against a dark blue background float across the pages from one to ten, accompanied by one little dark fish who keeps the count going. Cutout circles at the eyes reveal colors on succeeding pages. The slight text, occasionally in rhyme, introduces adjectives through the count, and tries to set a context of wish-fulfillment. It's a slick production, attempting several concepts at once--numbers, shapes, colors, imagining, addition to a value of one--but it doesn't quite hang together, and its result is a little breathless. MacDonald and Oakes' Numblers (Dial, 1988) also uses strong color and stark form to present visually the concepts of increasing quantity and transformations, but in a more thoughtful and well-integrated way, with movement inherent in the design. Another little dark fish, Lionni's Swimmy (Pantheon, 1963), has a more meaningful underwater exploration, incorporating the idea of changing appearances into the story. --Karen Litton, London Public Libraries, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In a rhyming text, a child imagines what she would see if she were a fish. On a deep blue background, electrically colored fish from one to ten in number - with die cut eyes - swim through the book. One dark green fish continually reappears, commenting on each scene and encouraging children to add him to the fish on the page and therefore predict the next number. A dazzling package. From HORN BOOK 1990, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Returning to the electric color contrasts of Growing Vegetable Soup (1987), a new Caldecott Honor winner (for Color Zoo, 1989) presents an innovative counting book with gorgeous, wildly colored fish-that-never-were against a deep blue ground. An almost-invisible black fish (and text) presages the next number before each page turn (""2 jumping fish plus me makes 3""). Having the fish's eyes punched out not only adds a bit of see-through fun but allows tactile counting to reinforce the learning experience. A visually exciting book that will probably inspire children to draw imaginative fish of their own. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
