FISHING IS FUN

In Mr. Steve’s picture book, a father-son fishing trip takes a surprising turn when they find themselves reeling in everything but fish.

Although they eagerly hope to catch a fish for lunch, the two main characters instead find a series of objects: First, a fork, and then a feather, before the father finds a football. The book attempts to emphasize the alliteration by highlighting the letter ‘f’in green; this design choice is subtle, though, and it’s possible some young readers could miss the lesson. This issue may be overcome by reading the book aloud, but the artwork unfortunately lacks variation, as well. Gieleghem’s early identical illustrations take up most of the book, with compositions limited to subtly varied angles on the boat, even as the son frustratedly finds a frog and a fan. That said, the artwork shines in small details, as in its clever portrayal of the father as a capital letter F and son as a lowercase ‘f’. Ultimately, though, the art falls flat by taking few creative chances. Although the father and son never explicitly catch on to the ‘f’pattern at play, this may offer young readers an early taste of dramatic irony. Overall, the book shows promise as a teaching tool for exploring reading, pattern recognition, and even comedy.

A fair but sometimes lackluster foray into the letter ‘f.’