Book Report: The Pout-Pout Fish (45)

29. Deborah Diesen, with pictures by Dan Hanna, The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) (12/19/22)

In his podcast last Friday, which was an "ask-me-anything" year-end wrap-up, New York Times columnist Ezra Klein ended with the usual book suggestions—only this time it was him, not a guest, doing the suggesting, and he focused on children's books (he has two young boys himself, so he knows his kids' books). I ended up purchasing two of his recommendations. One being The Pout-Pout Fish, a board book intended for ages 2–5. Perfect for my current distractivated mind!

It arrived yesterday, and as soon as I plucked it out of its packaging I read it aloud to David. Oh, what fun! If I had toddlers, I would insist on reading this book to them every night. They'd probably get sick of it before I did. And/or they'd start to recite it along with me and it would become a fond childhood memory for them years on. 

The book begins, "Deep in the water / Where the fish hang out / Lives a glum gloomy swimmer / With an ever-present pout." Various friendly sea creatures come along and try to convince Mr. Gloom to be more cheerful, but his response is always the same: "I'm a pout-pout fish / With a pout-pout face, / So I spread the dreary-wearies / All over the place."

Until finally one day, something happens to make him realize . . . 

But that's all I'll say, except that the overall message is a really important one—one that, Ezra says, his kids surely aren't aware of, but that rings true for him. Next time you're in a bookstore, seek this one out in the kids' section and take five minutes to read it. You'll be glad you did.

Here are a couple of consecutive spreads (shot on my iPhone), which illustrate the general formula of the book:

Here's what Ezra had to say about it:

[The Pout-Pout Fish is] another book where the language is just—it’s so delightful and delicious. It’s so fun in your mouth. But also, some of these books are very therapeutic. It’s a pretty interesting book, which is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about in my own life, about how some problems can’t really be solved by talking about them endlessly because you’re too trapped in your own stories. Sometimes you just need a somatic thunderbolt to some experiential moment that changes your whole view of the situation about yourself.

I’ve seen this with myself. I’ve become more skeptical of words, despite being somebody who primarily works with them in my life. But in my personal life, I’ve become a little bit skeptical of my ability to get out of things through words; I’m too good at telling stories, I believe. And that wisdom was already there in The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen. And upon reading it, it at least helped me see that a little bit more clearly.

There are numerous spin-offs to this book—The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School, ...in the Big-Big Dark, ...and the Bully-Bully Shark, ...Goes to the Dock, and on and on. It's a franchise (yes, complete with stuffed animals). But I think I'll just stick with the ungarnished version. It makes me smile.