Swallow the Leader

June 27, 2016
An orange fish carrying a flag leads a chain of 10 fish, who follow its every move. “Follow the leader/ to coral caves./ Snap like a crab./ Ride on the waves,” writes Smith (Arctic White), as eight additional fish (and a shark) show up. When fish #1 stops for a snack, the other fish follow suit, eating each other one by one. Sherry’s (Turtle Island) fish are in the wide-eyed, cartoony school of his previous books, but he gives them a rich aquatic environment to explore, assembled from cut-paper shapes and mottled watercolor backdrops. A happy ending caps this cheeky underwater adventure. Ages 4–7. Author’s agent: Ronnie Ann Herman, Herman Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Prospect Agency.

June 1, 2016
Rhyming sea creatures count to 10 and back again."1 Fish // 2 Fish / Follow the leader. / Do as I do. / Splash when I'm splashing, / then I'll follow you." A fish parade starts with one and picks up one more, with each iteration performing a different action, often mimicry. They snap like crabs. They blow like a whale. They flap like a ray and puff like a blowfish. "7 Fish / Follow the leader / into the dark. / Hush when I'm quiet. / Hide from a shark." They trot like a sea horse and hurdle a turtle...then, at 10 fish, the front fish gets hungry and swallows a shrimp. The second-place fish swallows the leader! Nine fish become eight become seven and so on. The final fish is a shark: "1 Fish / 'Delish!' " However, after one massive burp, there are 10 fish again! Time for another game with a new leader. Smith's undersea romp is an enjoyable rhyme that, while introducing different denizens of the briny deep, could easily be adapted to a finger play or body rhyme at storytime. Sherry's collages place cutouts on watery, watercolor backgrounds; the main-character fish have googly eyes and goofy smiles, and they are boldly colored and outlined in black. Some final art not seen. Nothing fishy here: it's a delish addition to storytime collections. (Picture book. 3-7)

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September 1, 2016

K-Gr 2-Through the ocean, fish after fish begins to play follow the leader. But when the line gets to 10, they all decide to play a new game: swallow the leader. Counting down from 10 to one, each fish is swallowed by the fish behind it until Shark has swallowed them all. No worries, though. Shark burps, and all of the fish come tumbling out to play their game again. This is a fun counting book with rhyming text that details the marine adventures as the fish add new members to their group. The illustrations are a mixture of traditional Sherry-style drawings done on multicolored papers that are sometimes solid and other times textured. Other details are added in a collage fashion, including seaweed and puffer fishes. VERDICT Readers will enjoy listening to the story and counting up and down as fish are added and swallowed. As the shark quips, "Delish!"-Paige Garrison, Augusta Richmond County Library System, GA

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