FLIP & FIN

These twin sand sharks just love a good joke. 

Flip and Fin are on their way to school when Flip tries out a joke on his brother: “What did the sawfish see?…He saw fish!” Ouch. Fin tells his twin that with Joke Day coming up at school, Flip is going to need a lot of practice to measure up. At school, while Fin builds a sandcastle with Swimmy the jellyfish, Flip tries out a joke on Molly the anglerfish. He forgets the punch line. When Flip and Fin play superheroes, though, Flip’s jokes improve—must be the cape. He keeps practicing. When Joke Day arrives, the big kids tell great jokes…but even with his cape on, Flip gets stage fright until Fin helps out from the audience. Then all the sea creatures have a joke-a-thon. Gill’s tale of finny, fraternal support is a fine fable. Everything works out, and some of the jokes are actually funny (though the audience at Joke Day laughs hysterically at the banana/orange knock-knock joke without the necessary setup). Numberman’s watercolor illustrations are inviting, expressive and silly in their cartoon, saucer-eyed exaggeration. The fishy facts at the close are a plus.

Particularly good for kids not ready to move beyond nonthreatening shark stories.