Taking the familiar folk tale as his model but revising the ending considerably, Galbraith fashions a blunt cautionary tale aimed at heedless degraders of the environment. Having fished out Poverty Bay, three sibling owners of successively larger boats move on to the Bay of Plenty, knocking the minke whale guarding it out of commission in the process. The brothers proceed to deplete and pollute that fishing grounds too—whereupon the whale rises again, to eat one brother, drown the second and leave the third for the sharks. Local residents, having “learnt a lot,” proceed to use the bays wisely so that their ecologies can recover. Illustrated with a garish tangle of photo-manipulated found objects, scowling painted figures and harvested fish—plus the occasional die-cut hole—this import will be best directed toward readers who need their lessons bludgeoned home. (Picture book. 7-9)
