FOOD CHAIN

A hapless goldfish becomes an undersea victim. Staring in fascination at his goldfish in its bowl, a "naughty little boy" hatches an "evil plan." He dumps the fish into the toilet bowl, and, lickety-split, the little fish lands in the big ocean. There it's eaten by a big fish, which is eaten by a bigger fish, which is eaten by a great big fish, which is caught by a big plump fisherman and ultimately ends up as fish and chips on the plate of the smiling "naughty little boy"—who later has a narrow escape from a big hungry whale. Robertson's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are full of cheeky dark humor and resemble portraiture in their depictions of sea life, which should fascinate young readers; one priceless picture shows a cross-section, both above- and underground, as the goldfish travels through the plumbing to the ocean while the boy sits on the toilet. But sentence-fragment text and repeated use of the phrase "naughty little boy" seem to parody the very issue that the author purports to present. Swimmy is still the gold standard. (Picture book. 4-7)