The Amazing Watercolor Fish / El asombroso pez acuarela

Text and illustrations by Carolyn Dee Flores

Spanish translation by Carmen Tafolla

• ISBN: 978-1-55885-873-2
• Publication Date: October 31, 2018
• Bind: Hardcover
• Pages: 32

This rhyming bilingual picture book depicts a whimsical friendship between two pet fish!

A lonely pet fish longs to know what exists in the world beyond her bowl. “I wish I could see over there / Behind the wall, / Behind the chair.” She imagines a giant tree, a wooly goat, and a purple sea.

She wonders if there could be someone out there who looks like her. So, she leans close to the glass and hears some fish-like cries! “Hello? Is someone there?” she hears. “Are you a bird? / Are you a bee? Or are you a fish with fins like me?” She realizes there’s another fish close by and his name is Mike!

When Mike asks what her world is like, the amazing watercolor fish has a great idea. “I’ll show Mike what I think could be!” Using watercolors, she paints a picture of a world with trees and swirling rainbows. Every day she paints more, “birds that swim, / ships with wings, / and books that do all sorts of things!” Then Mike uses his paint to illustrate more “than just the water and the door.”

In this fun bilingual picture book, with a wonderful rhyming Spanish translation by former Texas Poet Laureate Carmen Tafolla, two pet fish imagine a beautiful, mysterious world beyond their bowls. Children ages 4-8 will love following the progression of Carolyn Dee Flores’ gorgeous illustrations from black and white to full color as the fish become friends. Kids will be inspired to imagine—and maybe even paint or write about—a world beyond the one they know.

Review

“What if we could create the life we want? What would it look like? A lonely pet fish does just that when she begins to dream about a world beyond her bowl. She meets another fish, and the two set off on a journey of discovery. This beautiful picture book features Flores’ rhyming words and colorful illustrations with Spanish translation by former Texas Poet Laureate Carmen Tafolla.”—Houston Chronicle

“A lovely, mind-expanding idea for young readers, and the shift from black and white to color is a clever conceit. Spanish-literate readers will get an evocative take on two fish and their shared vision of a world they’ll never see.”—Kirkus Reviews

CAROLYN DEE FLORES is the illustrator of several books, including A Surprise for Teresita / Una sorpresa para Teresita (Piñata Books, 2016); Dale, dale, dale: Una fiesta de números / Hit It, Hit It, Hit It: A Fiesta of Numbers (Piñata Books, 2014) and Canta, Rana, canta / Sing, Froggie, Sing (Piñata Books, 2013). A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, she lives in San Antonio, Texas.