I’ve shared how much fun it is to read to our grandkids on Facetime and we had yet a new experience the other night!
The 3 boys ages 3, 6 and 8 lie on the bottom bunk and put the iPad in the slats under the upper mattress so we can chat. After some typical brother wrestling, they settled in and asked us to read a book. They requested the “new” Pout-Pout Fish book, “The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School.” Mr. Fish is sent off to his first day of school with a smooch from his parents as he swam into S.S Rock Bottom Elementary School trying out various classrooms in search of just the right fit. He landed in classrooms doing a writing lesson, drawing shapes and completing math problems, feeling quite out of place as he struggled to write, draw and divide. He recited his four-part troubles: “I’m not smart…I’ll never get it…I don’t belong…so forget it!” Just when he decided that school was say too tough, he was rescued by “a soft, kind voice who said, ‘Don’t you fret! You don’t have to know things you haven’t learned yet!'” Miss Hewitt escorted him to just the right classroom for Brand-New Fish where he joined the octopus, jelly fish, and swordfish with toys, blocks and crayons just his size. His new mantra, “We are smart…We can get it…We belong…we don’t forget it!”
After we finished, Ben said, “Hey his friends are all younger animals from the first book!” He disappeared and brought back the “Pout-Pout Fish ” book that introduced us to our beloved Mr. Fish. Then 3 year-old Sam appeared with the “Pout-Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark” and asked us to read it next. He held up the book, flipping the pages slowly! Unfortunately, we couldn’t read the pages very well, so older brother, Will stepped right in and read the whole book.
I guess you could say we are Pout Pout Fish fans!
“The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School” was provided for review from author, Debra Diesen.
