The Fish That Wasn't

Borovsky's ( The Strange Blue Creature ) beguiling, primitive watercolor and gouache art is a fitting counterpart to his droll story about a wide-eyed girl who selects a birthday present from a pet store. Her choice is a small gray fish, which she names Vincent. When it appears that the fishbowl has gotten smaller, Pauline moves Vincent to the sink until that, too, ``shrinks.'' After he outgrows the bathtub, the perpetually smiling pet is put in the backyard pool, where Pauline reads to him and listens to his sad song. Long before Pauline's father spies water spraying out of Vincent's head, readers will have identified this ``fish that wasn't'' as a whale. Once they learn the truth, Pauline and her father return Vincent to the sea. Walking to school the next day, the lonely girl cries so much that she loses track of where she is going and ends up walking off a pier into the ocean. Guess who comes to her rescue, now singing a happy song? There's no suspense here--just an impressive whale in a tale that's equally amusing and affecting. Ages 4-7. (Apr.)