The Unexpected Visitor

PreS-Gr 1— In this tale, a young fisherman discovers the importance of caring for the ocean and its creatures. He finds that he has overfished his own tiny corner of the ocean and all of the fish are gone. Enter his new playmate, a friendly and wise blue whale who kindly takes him to a new island where he might find fish if only he changes his greedy ways. The results are advantageous for the boy, other fishermen invited to the island, and a gathering of larger sea creatures who happily benefit from a new understanding among the inhabitants of their shared environment. This brief morality tale emphasizes sharing and using only what is needed—"he took his boat out, cast a fishing line, not a net." Richly colored, detailed watercolor and digitally drawn folk-art images capture the haze of a watery world and the depths of the ocean.