Little Insomniac: Good Night, Little Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

THE LITTLE RAINBOW FISH COULDN'T SLEEP.

HIS EYES SIMPLY WOULD NOT CLOSE.

Mother Rainbow Fish has put him in a comfy bed of soft plants, but Little Rainbow Fish doesn't like the dark. He's afraid to close his eyes.

Mom has a bright idea.

I'LL SEND FOR THE LANTERN FISH!

The kindly lanternfish arrives to shine his little light in the dark sea floor. But Little Rainbow Fish  still has some disturbing issues with going to sleep.

He asks Mother Rainbow Fish to stay with him, and she promises she will stay close. But Little Rainbow Fish can't help worrying. What if the tide goes out and takes him with it? What if Octopus releases a cloud of ink, and he can't find his way back to his little bed? What if a jellyfish takes that opportunity to tie him up in his trailing tentacles?

YIKES! Now that IS scary!

And then, what if he dozes off ... to sleep, perchance to dream? Even little fish can have bad dreams!

But Mother Rainbow Fish just ties Jellyfish's tentacles in an attractive bow and wraps her fins around Little Rainbow Fish. Save and secure, he finally drifts off to sleep, in Marcus Pfister's sweet lullaby of a board book edition of Good Night, Little Rainbow Fish (NorthSouth Books, 2017 ed.).

Author Marcus Pfister takes youngsters back to the time when the notoriously adventurous Rainbow Fish was a just a small insomniac minnow, fretting about the disturbing nighttime things that all youngsters worry about and needing reassurance that all is well before slipping gently into that good night. In this deep sea bedtime story, artist Phister's lovely signature illustrations are soft and soothing, done up with glowing greens and blues, accented with pinks and sparkles of gold.This little book is fine bedtime fare that also introduces a beloved picture book character to the very young.

Easter Eggs for Everyone: Happy Easter, Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

Everyone's favorite petulant piscatorial protagonist is back, in, of all things, an under-the-sea Easter egg adventure.

Octopus passes out the Easter pastel baskets, and all the itty-bitty fishies fan out to search the ocean reef for hidden eggs, led by quite a sight--a fish in a bunny costume!

Watch Out! That puffer fish is NOT an egg!

Will everyone find an egg? Or will poor Pout-Pout Fish go home with an empty basket?

In Deborah Diesen's little holiday board book, Happy Easter, Pout-Pout Fish (A Pout-Pout Fish Mini Adventure), (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017) even her sometimes sulky scaly hero replaces his morose moue with a big smile. The jolly illustrations of artist Dan Hanna show young collectors how it's done--and with Easter egg hunts the event of the day, even tots who dote on Pout-Pout Fish and find this one in their Easter baskets will know just what to do.

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!