Fish That Play Tricks

Children's Literature - Donna T. Brumby

A part of the "Creatures All Around Us" series, this short volume benefits from large, easy-to-read print and numerous colorful photographs of interesting sea creatures. Words included in the accompanying glossary are highlighted with bold print throughout the text, which also contains several pronunciation aids for larger, less common terms. The opening section describes fish in general and serves as a background for the later descriptions of fish "tricks." The main portion of the book describes ways that some fish have adapted themselves for protection, feeding and mating. Fairly well organized, and helped by inclusion of an index, this nonfiction title should be useful to young readers seeking information for school, scouting or club reports, but a tendency to skip suddenly from species to species and example to example does not make it a great candidate for pleasure reading.

From The Critics

A very informative introduction to fish, this book displays the big words phonetically and teaches children about the different fish species. A good resource for teachers, this guide would be useful for a school project in oceanography or for any other science class. Part of the "Creatures All Around Us" series. 1998, Carolrhoda Books, Inc., $14.95. Ages 5 to 10. Reviewer: N. Boyd SOURCE: Parent Council Volume 8

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-These two series entries describe unusual appearances or patterns of behavior in fish and other marine animals. Detailed chapters are filled with information, beginning with a general introduction to each subject. Full-color photographs of uneven quality and occasional drawings appear in both titles. Some of the photos are interesting and enticing, yet others make it difficult to judge the scale and size of their subjects. Fish belies its playful title with a detailed description of fish anatomy and physiology. Underwater Musicians begins by describing how sound travels and how it is perceived by humans. The text sometimes assumes knowledge (e.g., walruses are "...mammals like us" without a description of mammalian characteristics), and occasionally the comparisons of animal behavior to familiar human actions strays into anthropomorphizing, e.g., "love songs" of whales or killer whales together sounding like a "roomful of noisy relatives." Both books use boldface type to highlight technical terms, provide pronunciation guides, and define the words in context as well as in the glossary. Each title contains a text table summarizing the information. Serviceable additions.-Frances E. Millhouser, Chantilly Regional Library, VA