Something's Fishy! by Dr Mark Morgan (Author) and Limei Lin (Illustrator)

This review first appeared on Reader Views. Read the Reader Views version here. 

Something’s Fishy! by Dr. Mark Morgan and illustrated by Limei Lin was a fun surprise of a read. While a picture book and thus targeted at younger children (ages 8-12), I learned quite a bit from the tale. Something’s Fishy! clearly explains the history of the spread of invasive carp species into the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Now, perhaps that doesn’t sound like a compelling or humorous idea for a picture book, but you’d be wrong.

Dr. Morgan clearly explains the history of the invasive carp in easy-to-understand words. Although I live in Chicago, which has been directly affected by these invasive carp, I learned more about how we got into this predicament than had ever been explained to me before. Additionally, Dr. Morgan closes out with a proposed idea of how to solve this problem we’ve gotten ourselves into (including a QR code to learn even more about this proposed solution). He is also sure to add dashes of humor to his words to compel readers to keep reading and, thus, keep learning.

These moments of funny text are immensely highlighted and enhanced by Lin’s tongue-in-cheek illustrations. Throughout the book, you’ll see fish with flashlights discovering what is making the water such poor quality, other fish with passports on the move, and even one fish with an electrified trident. I was immensely charmed by Lin’s work and found myself even chuckling aloud. What is perhaps even more impressive, though, is that while Lin’s work adds vital levity to this picture book, it does not distract readers from the lessons and history that the text is imparting. This is so important because humor could easily have overtaken the information, but, instead, the humor and the facts enhance each other and thus create a fun learning experience for young readers as well as those who may be reading the book aloud.

I was honestly surprised by how much I adored Something’s Fishy!. I expected either a silly little book that I wouldn’t learn much from, but that young children would be charmed by, or a dry book that I would get something out of, but that would not interest a younger audience. I was completely wrong. Something’s Fishy! strikes not just a balance between facts and fun, but the team of Dr. Morgan and Lin has found a way for the words and art to bounce off each other and enhance one another. I recommend Something’s Fishy! for young readers as well as for those who want an introduction to the invasive carp in the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Something's Fishy! by Dr Mark Morgan (Author) and Limei Lin (Illustrator), Outskirts Press