The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully-Bully Shark

Book:  The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully-Bully Shark (Book Link)
Author: Deborah Diesen (Author Link)
Illustrator: Dan Hanna (Illustrator Link)
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Publishing
Date of Publication: 2017
Genre: Picture Book, Written in Last 4 Years, Diverse Protagonists
Lexile Score: AD550L
Citation: Diesen, D. (2017). The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully-Bully Shark. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Summary:  In this story Mr. Fish is happily playing on the playground with his friends when Shark swims over and acts meanly.  He would swim up onto the playground and steal their things, and disturb their fun.  Every time he would swim over the rest of the fish would hide and swim away in fear.  Each day Mr. Fish wondered if the could ever stand up to Shark, because he was only one fish, and he wondered if he could do it alone.  Until one day he said, "Words can make a difference, when things go wrong. Yes, I'm just one fish, but my voice is strong."  So the next day Mr. Fish stood up to Shark and told him that he was being mean.  If he wanted to come back to the playground he needed to learn to be respectful.  So Shark went and read up on being respectful, and later returned to the park.  Shark returned to the park and showed the rest of the fish friends respect, and became one of their friends. 

Audience:  This book is targeted at grades first through fourth.  It has a clear message that it is important to be nice to each other.  In the beginning of the book the fish are scared of the shark.  However in the end of the story the shark is one of their friends and everyone realized the importance of being respectful to one another.  It shows a great message that even though you might not be friends with someone because they aren't being nice to you things can turn around.  It could be used in school to teach a lesson of respect, and how classmates should treat each other. 

Evaluation:  I think that this is a high quality picture book.  The book uses rhyming throughout the book to make the book more appealing to this level of reader.  I think that it really adds to the flow of the story, and makes it fun to listen to.  If it were to be used as a classroom read aloud I think that the students would enjoy listening.  The illustrations are also great for a younger reader, as they are colorful and add to the story.  The resolution at the end of the book would also be great to use in the classroom.  The book has a strong message of friendship and how to be respectful which would be important to incorporate into the classroom.

Activity: 
Wanted Poster:  For this activity the reader would created a wanted poster for the antagonist in the story.  They would draw the shark for this specific story and then write out a few sentences describing their reasoning for choosing this character. They could give specific examples from the text, or describe certain situations.

From: Education. (2013, September 23). Wanted Poster | Activity. Retrieved from https://www.education.com/activity/article/wanted-poster/