Puffer Fish

Reviewed by: Ann Marie Townsend - South Berwick Public Library, South Berwick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: November 8, 2016

Review

This is a 24 page nonfiction picture book. The illustrations are stock photographs which are appealing. The information is very limited, such as "Some puffers are very tiny. Others are as big as basketballs." How tiny? Is the basketball sized fish normal or when puffed up? I learned there are 120 kinds of puffer fish, They do not have scales, instead they have smooth skin. Some have spikes. Why? Each kind has a different skin pattern and can change their skin color. When and why would they do this? They have four large teeth and eat tiny animals and water plants called algae. They can double in size when a larger animal tries to eat them. They swallow lots of water or air to blow up like a balloon. How do they do this? They can swim up, down, forward and backward. Where do they live? How do they reproduce? How long do they live? There is also a photograph of someone holding a puffer fish in bare hands and then being told that their bodies contain poison and one fish can kill 30 people. So is it dangerous to hold this fish? Too little information even for a very young child.

Overall Book Score: poor