The Strangest Fish

When Daisy’s family attends the fair she loves, held during her favorite month—October—Daisy’s sister Mary wins a stuffed koala and brother Benjy earns a whistle. Daisy, meanwhile, garners a peculiar fish in a plastic bag, with “too many fins and scales like leaves, a head too big for his tail.” Digitally finished pen, ink, and watercolor spreads by Marwan (Where Butterflies Fill the Sky) have a dreamy, Kandinsky-esque feel, with bright reds fading into pinks and greens, lavenders and mauves. Mary calls the fish weird, but Daisy doesn’t mention her own jealousy of Mary’s koala. “Don’t worry,” she tells the fish, whom she calls October. “You are the best fish.” But October rapidly outgrows one glass bowl, then a larger one. He’s soon in the bathtub, and Daisy has to find another, better place for her charge. Daisy is faithful to her unprepossessing prize, and Arden (the Small Spaces series), making a picture book debut, fittingly rewards this loyalty throughout an unexpected series of events that focuses on bonds and transformations established through tending. The family is portrayed with light brown skin; background characters are shown with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)