Ebbie & Flo

A first for the author as well as the first in this publisher's new children's imprint, this work playfully combines information about the salmon life cycle with a fictional adventure story. Inseparable since they were adjacent eggs in a rocky stream, two salmon siblings are opposites: ""Flo was daring. She nibbled the worm at the end of a fishing hook. Ebbie fainted."" But when Ebbie needs to be brave to save his sister from a killer whale, he comes through. Although Ebbie's rescue mission doesn't concern itself with scientific accuracy (he deflects the whale's attention by calling it a big, blubbery bully), elsewhere the author does slip in a lesson or two about nature (e.g., the fish travel downriver ""for a whole year,"" until they reach the estuary, ""where the fresh river water meets the salty sea""). Kelly's pastels offset deep marine-blue water with generous splashes of other colors, so that the iridescent salmon and underwater rocks seem to shimmer. If this is not exactly a whale of a tale, the humorously expressive fish and vivid illustrations add up to a thoroughly enjoyable fish story. Young scientists hungry for more details will be satiated with a concluding page of fish facts. Ages 4-8. (May)