38. Dear Fish

Ever wrote a letter to some fish as a joke and had it backfire on you? Well, you're about to find out all that can go wrong. In Dear Fish (2006), Chris Gall crafts a beautiful postmodern/surrealist tale of fish coming to visit. 


Peter Alan didn't mean it when he invited the fish over to his house, but they believed him. Soon all sorts of sea life have invaded his neighborhood--jellyfish, puffer fish, sharks, a blue whale, etc. They move in so seamlessly that the townspeople don't even notice at first-- the baseball player uses the barracuda as a bat, the carpenter uses a sawfish to cut some boards.


Oh, that reminds me...the author uses these fish in quite a 'punny' way, as each creature is put into a situation that plays upon their name (i.e. the 'school' of fish, you guessed it, in the school). These puns are hidden throughout. I think kids would love stumbling upon one and laughing at the joke.


The text is cool...whenever a new sea creature comes into the story, Gall uses some sort of onomatopoeia to introduce them (i.e. "a crash, a smash, a wiggling, and a jiggling"). These would be great moments in writing lessons to talk about figurative language and great word choice. Plus, Gall has the text stand out by changing the color for those words and even making the font match the words.


But I've totally ignored the artwork-- and it is what drew me to the book originally! Gall uses engravings (on a clay-coated board) to create crisp, detailed pictures. I love the way the engraving allows you to see the grain and lines that he carves in. They create such flow and movement in the scenes. Gall then adds in color digitally (and man do those bright colors pop!). Gall's fantasy is well crafted in the images (I'd say he's chasing David Weisner's tail)...the creatures meld seamlessly into the scenes, almost as if they were meant to be there. Characters break the frame and show up in crazy places (the blue whale soars through the air like a blimp). Gall goes back and forth between single page illustrations and ones that cross the gutter but don't quite fill up both pages. Occasionally, he will feature double page bleeds without any text...these fill your eyes with wonder at the craziness (i.e. awesomeness) of the scene. The boldness of the colors and style make it look almost 3-D!


In the end, Peter Alan's second letter convinces them to return to the sea. They are not rude animals, though, and eventually they invite the family to their home. The last scene in the book is a beautiful double page bleed of the boy and his parents in their car, plunging into the ocean with their headlights lighting the way. Wouldn't that be so awesome if we could really do that? Sign me up!