Don’t Eat Eustace

Lighthouse keeper Bear, a squat gray figure with dots for eyes, lives alone on a remote island. Having dispensed with official duties (gouache and colored pencil illustrations offer a glimpse of the lighthouse happenings via a vertically oriented cutaway), it’s time to catch lunch. Down at the shore, Bear hooks a rainbow-checkered sail along with fish Eustace, who has colorful stripes, pleading eyes, and a burning desire not to become a meal. “Please don’t eat me,” Eustace pleads as Bear, having offered a perfunctory reassurance, places the fish in a soup pot. The appearance of a broken-winged heron gives Eustace a brilliant delaying tactic: Bear should make a sailcloth wing! The fish then skirts demise twice more by suggesting Bear use the remaining sailcloth to create a cozy ursine outfit and a dapper blazer for a shark who wants to be more relatable. Helping others and indulging in a little self-care feels good, so instead of fish stew, Bear opts for tomato soup—and friendship with Eustace. Via winning characterizations that pair well with offbeat, understated humor, Cho (Pig Town Party) will have readers falling hook, line, and sinker for this interspecies buddy comedy. Ages 4–8. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Oct.)