Poor Little Guy

Bwa ha ha ha! I laughed until I cried. There is nothing like a good, funny fish story.

The endpapers open with swirls of ocean green and a host of white and grouchy fish looming about a poor little yellow fish. Poor little guy, he's grabbed by an octopus, he's just so adorable! So adorable the octopus wants to eat him up...but this poor little guy has a nasty surprise waiting for his tormentor!

Short, sweet, and simple, be ready for waves of delighted laughter when the little fish gets the better of the octopus! The only draw back is the very swirly font is difficult to read, so you might want to practice it before reading aloud.

Verdict: Sometimes you just need a funny fish story. This is that story.

ISBN: 9780525428251; Published 2016 by show more Dial/Penguin; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

A cute little fish is swimming along, minding his own business in this new picture-book from animator Elanna Allen, only to be caught by an octopus and made to 'play' a variety of games. When the octopus concludes that the little fish might be just as tasty and he is adorable, he tries to swallow him, only to receive an unwelcome surprise in the form of spines in his tongue, when the little fish expands.

Although the artwork in Poor Little Guy is really quite charming, with an appealing color palette, a cute little yellow hero, and copious use of swirling lines to indicate the motion of the sea, I found the story itself rather... lacking. The text is minimal, and didn't really involve me in the story. Perhaps young children will be more show more interested in the fate of the little blowfish, but I was mostly indifferent, both to his danger and to his eventual triumph. There's nothing really wrong here, but somehow it just didn't work for me. show less

Don't underestimate the little guy! Also, maybe respect people's boundaries.
I love the colours in this book, the bright yellow of our protagonist against the green-to-blue-to-purple sea, and the lines of water turbulence around the creatures (and their speech bubbles, sometimes). I like how the size and positioning and cursiveness of the octopus's speech makes it more clear how little its actually speaking to its future lunch as much as about it. I love the endpapers that begin with the hungry denizens of the sea stalking our friend and end with their comeuppances, though I'm not entirely sure all of those animals would want to be eating a tiny fish in the first place (what would a giant clam want with a fish?). I keep flipping through show more this book to admire the background curlicues and the various contortions of the octopus's tentacles. show less

Adorable! The giant eyeglass-wearing puffer fish is marvelously expressive in this simply illustrated, sparely-worded offering. He's caught by an octopus who wants to play "catch of the day" and each trap of the octopus' tentacles are cuter than the last. For the toddler/pre-K crowd

This book though it has few words, speaks of a small fish that is constantly in fear of being eaten and prey of other bigger fish and creatures in the ocean. It shows how he finds his inner strength of being a small fish, he has a powerful secret up his sleeve. It turns out his special secret is that he's a puffer fish and can defend himself. This shows children that if they dig deep they can overcome the toughest of bullies.
It does show that violence is a route for dealing with bullies, which is not what you want to teach a child, so I would spend more time discussing this with children if I read it to them or had it in my classroom.
I do think that if there were more words the story could be presented as words are powerful in every show more sense, more powerful than actions. show less

Poor Little Guy is the story of a tiny, adorable fish. He is swimming past an octopus when he is snatched up! The octopus is playing games with him and saying he would taste adorable because he is so tiny. Little does he know that this tiny fish packs a big punch! The tiny fish is a puffer fish and when the octopus tries to eat him he puffs up and leaves him with a mouth full of spines. He's not as scared when other big fish try to pick on him.

I won't spoil the surprise, but this poor little guy ("more of a breathmint than a fish, really...") is one awesome fish! Loved it!