HOW TO CATCH A FISH

There definitely isn’t just one way, as Frank and Sylvada demonstrate in deft poetry and impressionistic scenes of anglers worldwide. The text, which can be read as either one long poem or a series of untitled short ones, creates a harmonious rhythm with subtle shifts of beat and occasional rhyming: “Propelled by currents swift and strong, / our fishwheel rotates round and round, / its soft metallic hollow sound / as rhythmic as a beaten drum. . . . ” In the art, indistinct figures—almost invariably an adult and a child together—cast lures, flies or nets, stand in boats or drop lines off a dock, check for likely spots or proudly display catches. Along with glimpses of ice fishers on Baffin Island, snorklers in New Caledonia, seine fishers in Tobago, cormorant tenders in Japan and more, sensitive young readers will catch a feeling here for the universal ties between parent and child that rise from any shared activity. (Picture book. 6-8)