cover image The Pout-Pout Fish: Halloween Faces

The Pout-Pout Fish: Halloween Faces

Deborah Diesen, illus. by Dan Hanna. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $9.99 (10p) ISBN 978-0-374-30450-8

Mr. Fish, the bulgy-eyed hero of Diesen’s long-running series, once suffered from a case of the “dreary wearies.” This time, his mood doesn’t match his moniker—“the pout-pout fish loves Halloween.” In each of Hanna’s underwater scenes, the protagonist wears a different costume: a cape and mask and a train engineer’s cap among them. Behind each page, Mr. Fish’s plastic googly eyes show through die-cut holes. Taking on new identities can be empowering—maybe that’s why this famously grumpy Gus grins throughout. Ages 2–5.[em] (Aug.) [/em]