Mr. Fish is grumpy but decides on a great plan to surprise his friends with an art project. Whenever anyone asks if he needs help, he emphatically says no. However, eventually he realizes it will be easier (and better) if he works alongside his friends.

I do not understand the appeal of these "Pout-Pout Fish Reader" titles; after reading another one, I thought this one could not possibly get worse. It did. Never having read the original picture book, I don't know if this is how pout-pout fish always is or if it just doesn't translate well into the early reader format.

One thing that makes no sense to me is how all the characters have honorifics like Mr. and even Mrs., although the characters otherwise act more or less like children. In the other title I read in this series, they were very obviously in a school setting; here it is a little less clear but it still seems that way. At any rate, it doesn't seem particularly appealing to children, in my humble opinion.

In this particular book, Mr. Fish comes across as rude to me. Whenever a friend asks if he'd like help, he exclaims "No!" and swims away. There is nothing polite or elucidating about his response; it is not "no thank you" or "I'm doing it myself" even. Perhaps this is a limitation of the early reader format and the author wanting to keep the language simple, but it really makes the story seem like a study in bad manners.

Eventually Mr. Fish finds that, despite the book's title, he can NOT do it alone, so he gets his friends involved. Generally, this sounds like a positive message. But the cooperation here is to ... paint a single picture on one easel. That doesn't sound like a project that actually needs multiple participants. It seems like a better example could have been chosen that would actually benefit from cooperative teamwork.

All in all, this was a pretty disappointing read. ( )

Sometimes you just want to do things yourself, without any help at all. Sometimes everyone needs a little bit of help. When the grumpy Pout-Pout Fish begins working on his artistic masterpiece, his friends are quick to offer a helping fin. As Pout-Pout's frustration builds, he becomes more and more reluctant to accept the help of his friends. Eventually, he agrees to let his friends help him. Pout-Pout fish learns that sometimes working together leads to an even better outcome than you imagined. ( )