The pout-pout fish, painted a suitable blue, is so named for his perpetual gloom: "I'm a pout-pout fish / With a pout-pout face, / So I spread the dreary-wearies / All over the place." When a jellyfish complains about his "daily scaly scowl," the glum fish agrees, but says his mood isn't up to him. A squid, dubbing the fish "a kaleidoscope of mope," receives the same defeatist answer, as do other sea creatures. Up to this point, the story is refreshing in that readers will no doubt recognize the pout-pout fish in their own lives, and in many cases, there's just no cheering these people up. But the plot takes a rather unpalatable turn when a shimmery girl fish kisses the gloomster right on his pouty mouth. With that kiss, he transforms into the "kiss-kiss fish" and swims around "spreading cheery-cheeries all over the place," meaning that he starts to smooch every creature in sight. (Don't try this at school, kids, you'll get suspended!) Still, there's plenty of charm here, both in the playful language ("hulky-bulky sulking!") and in the winning artwork—Hanna's cartoonish undersea world swims with hilarious bug-eyed creatures that ooze personality. (Picture book. 3-6)

PreS-Gr 1 A rhythmic, rhyming text introduces a fish with a mouth that turns down at the corners and a correspondingly gloomy attitude. One by one, his ocean-dwelling friends try to cheer him up, but he resists their efforts with a pessimistic, yet snappy refrain: "I'm a pout-pout fish/With a pout-pout face,/So I spread the dreary-wearies/All over the place." Finally, a mysterious female fish approaches and silently plants a kiss "upon his pout." He is instantly struck by the epiphany that he is actually a " kiss-kiss fish/With a kiss-kiss face/For spreading cheery-cheeries/All over the place!" and demonstrates his newfound outlook by smooching his friends. Though the bouncy rhythm is appealing, many of the rhymes are forced, and the poetry doesn't always scan. On the positive side, the cartoon illustrations of undersea life are bright and clean and the protagonist's exaggerated expressions are entertaining. The layout is attractive, and the three-panel sequences showing the fish moping around during the refrain are especially well done. Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, MD