The Yiddish Fish

March 1, 2015

K-Gr 3-A quirky story of a talking fish, inspired by a New York Times article. When a fish starts speaking Yiddish, the fishmongers can't bring themselves to kill it. Unable to identify the speaker among the other fish in their barrels, they free them all in a lake where the fish laugh and sing klezmer tunes. While this odd little story has elements of a classic trickster tale, it falls flat because there is no lesson learned. The cartoon illustrations are odd, too: the characters are portrayed with blue skin. Text and illustrations are mismatched; the text refers to fish in a tank, while the picture shows them in barrels. The fish's speech bubbles include English and Yiddish but no transliteration to help non-Yiddish speaking readers pronounce the words. The back matter is equally odd. A lengthy author's note explains the story's inspiration and describes scientific explorations of fish communication. Rather vague activities are suggested (how exactly does one "film and record fish sounds in a fish tank"?), and adult-level books and websites are listed as resources for more information. VERDICT This book might strike the funny bone of some young readers, but it's strictly an additional purchase.-Heidi Estrin, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

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