Review by Booklist Review
ldquo;Ursula was one happy catfish, swimming through the world." With lush river weeds waving above her and "scrumptious buggy buffets" in the blue skies beneath her water, round and rosy Ursula is as content as a catfish can be. All is well until another fish questions Ursula's swimming style, "and just like that, her whole world flipped." As in the Caldecott Honor--winning Mel Fell (2021) and again with Simon and the Better Bone (2023), Tabor's inventively formatted storytelling technique employs a dash of drama and turns a fresh tale on its head. Here, readers are instructed, complete with arrows, to "turn the book!" as curved text ingeniously transitions to reflect Ursula's now-shifted view, stylistically reminiscent of Dan Santat's Are We There Yet? (2016). Flopping from water to shore, she awakens a kindly bat, Vern, who flaps from a tree limb (where he hangs upside down, naturally) to Ursula's rescue. Tabor's luminous mixed-media landscapes in a pastel palette meld beautifully with the increasingly emphatic text to convey Ursula's emotional journey. Tabor gently reframes questions of perspective as Vern and fellow dangling forest dwellers reassure readers, through Ursula, about their own special ways of viewing the world. Pragmatists will appreciate a note identifying Ursula as an upside-down catfish specific to the Congo River basin in Africa. This clever and heartfelt picture book will wow at storytimes.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Caldecott Honoree Tabor has once again found a subject that aligns well with his love of flipped formats: the upside down catfish, which an author's note states lives in Africa's Congo River basin. Pink, plump, and whimsically whiskered, Ursula lives in a "wonderful world"--signature-style illustrations depict a blissful underwater environment in sun-streaked, translucent aquatic tones. There, "river weeds waved from above. Rays of sun shimmered from below," and insects on the water's surface are ripe for the picking. But when another fish indicates that Ursula is upside down relative to others in their shared habitat ("Just look around!" it says), doubt sets in. Ursula upends her orientation (Tabor instructs readers to turn the book accordingly) and ends up thoroughly confused ("Was left right?! Was right wrong?! Which way was even up?!")--and dangerously stranded on the shore. She encounters an ideal rescuer in Vern, a kindly bat; when Ursula notes that Vern is "upside down too!" after Vern rolls her back into the water and returns to his hanging position in a tree, Vern replies blithely, "Upside down?... Says who?" Readers will also note several other species in the picture that share the duo's outlook, offering a funny and final reminder that perspective need not be isolating. Ages 4--8. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (May)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--Tabor really does a number on readers with this one, electing as the main character a species of catfish that swims upside down. But that's later. Ursula is minding her own business, being pink and whiskery, as catfish are, and loving the colors of the water, which are quite beautiful in teals and mint greens, with splashes of turquoise and coral. Ursula is content until another fish asks why she's swimming upside down. This flips her world. When she tries swimming "right way up," she sends herself out of the water and on to the very dangerous shore. Luckily, a helpful bat kindly rolls her into the water and suggests that maybe the way Ursula does it is right for her after all. Of course this is a lesson about identity, marching to the beat of a different drum, and general differences, but it's also about buzzkill and how someone's unkind comment, no matter how innocently uttered, can change the day. The pacing is perfect and the typeface treatment breaks all the rules, with sentences that tell readers (or read-alouders) when to turn the book in the other direction to facilitate viewing the words. Who could not love Ursula? To find out she is based on a real species is a fact no child will forget. VERDICT Funny, real, and makes a delicious point without spelling it out; this book is a charmer.--Kimberly Olson Fakih
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Ursula is a happy pink catfish who enjoys her life eating bugs, only to be asked one day why she swims upside down. What a strange question! Ursula had thought all fish swam like this, with their bellies turned up to the surface of the water. This query causes her to doubt her viewpoint, and if she might be in the wrong: "Was left right?! Was right wrong?! Which way was even up??" These wonderings rock Ursula's world, quite literally: "Her whole world flipped." And with that (the now much-anticipated "Tabor turn" established in Mel Fell, rev. 3/21, and Simon and the Better Bone, rev. 7/23), readers are instructed to flip the book upside down and turn the pages right to left. Ursula now sees the world as others do and realizes that she is, indeed, upside down. When she encounters a bat, she is shown another point of view, in which upside down is perfectly usual. Ultimately, Ursula decides that she gets to determine what's normal. Tabor's mixed-media illustrations bring levity to the book's more serious message, and the book-flipping and page-turns give readers a tactile, sensory experience of changing perspective. Per a brief author's note, the protagonist is based on an actual species of catfish that swims upside down in the Congo River. Julie Hakim AzzamJuly/August 2024 p.117 (c) Copyright 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
Ursula is disconcerted to realize she's living her life upside down--or is she? Ursula, a sherbet-pink catfish, has a good life. "Weeds waved from above," "Rays of sun shimmered from below," and Ursula has "scrumptious buggy buffets" to feast upon. Some might wonder if there's been a printing mistake: Other characters' speech bubbles are upside down, and the sun peeks from the bottom of the page. But as readers orient (or disorient?) themselves, they won't be able to help but share Ursula's perspective, both artistically and emotionally. After Ursula encounters a fish who questions her unusual position, she's plagued by existential angst, and the book reorients, with the sky at the top of the page and water at the bottom. Confused, Ursula flops onto a beach, which, as Tabor so drolly puts it, "Is no place for a catfish upside down or otherwise." Thankfully, Vern the bat flaps over to rescue her. Ursula's overjoyed to meet another creature who lives life unconventionally aligned. But are they the ones upside down? "Says who?" questions Vern. And, "just like that," Ursula's world--and the book--flips again. While her shift to appreciating life outside the norm feels abrupt, readers will be buoyed alongside Ursula. Created with loose, bubbly watercolors and digital collage in jaunty tones of aqua and teal, her watery world is inviting. An author's note discusses the real-life upside-down catfish, found in the Congo River basin. A welcome reminder to embrace your view of the world. (Picture book. 4-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
