A Visit from Manta Claus? The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

A GIFT SHOULD HAVE MEANING,

PLUS A BIT OF BLING-ZING,

SO I'LL SHOP TILL I DROP

FOR EACH JUST-RIGHT THING!

Pout-Pout Fish has a problem. He is a perfectionist, and his search for the perfect big and bright gift for each of his pescatory friends fails, he lapses into a pout.

The stores are filled with fancy things, but none of them seem fitting for Miss Shimmer and his other special friends. His favorite aquatic shoppe, Ahab's, has a myriad of merchandise, and the banners proclaim everything from...

PEG LEGS TO SCALE POLISH!

But the bling has lost its zing. Mr. Fish's eyes are dazzled, but his mood grows frazzled. He proceeds with his shopping, until it grows dark and the last shop is in sight. But what he sees is a sign that gives him the gloomy glums.

WE'RE CLOSED!

He's got nothing! Will he have to skip the Christmas shindig altogether? Mr. Fish sinks into a first-class sulk.

Then he has a thought.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO START

FOR THE BEST GIFTS COME FROM THE HEART.

In her latest Pout-Pout Adventure our favorite down-in-the-mouth fish rises to the occasion with his own fin-made creations after all, in Deborah Diesen's The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish (A Pout-Pout Fish Adventure) (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015). With versatile verses and a Christmas message that even the Grinch couldn't find fault with, Pout-Pout comes through with the perfect present for everyone after all. Diesen's talented collaborator, artist Dan Hanna provide the very merry eye-candy illustrations that add much to the final festive outcome, and the Christmas party is a deep-water delight after all.

Back to School: Daddy's Back to School Shopping Adventure by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

"GET READY TO PUT SOME PEP IN YOUR STEPS, MY LITTLE PICKLE QUACKERS. TODAY WE ARE GOING BACK-TO-SCHOOL SHOPPING!"

Captain Daddy is organizing an expedition, and although thoughts of school starting don't exactly bring cheers, Jack and Jenny know that there are some pretty cool things to be found in the school supplies aisles. But Daddy has a dire warning up front:

"AND WHAT'S THE RULE FOR SCHOOL-SUPPLY SHOPPING?"

"WE ONLY BUY WHAT'S ON THE LIST," CHIME THE KIDS DUTIFULLY.

"WHY DO PARENTS ALWAYS SAY THINGS A HUNDRED MILLION TIMES," JACK MUTTERS SOFTLY.

At the store the kids tag along while all the boring stuff gets selected and checked off--pencils, lined paper, erasers. Yawn. No fun there. The kids hopefully hold up the not-so boring stuff for possible purchase. Garbage-truck pencil sharpener (to encourage recylcing?), maybe? Glow-in-the-dark glue (in case the lights go out at school?)

"HELLO? IS IT ON THE LIST?" HE REMINDS THEM.

But Captain Daddy can't resist clowning it up a bit. How does he look in a warbonnet made from paint brushes and colored markers? Bangle bracelets from rolls of colored tape?

But then Daddy spots something truly cool. It's a classic lunchbox, a dead ringer for the one he loved in third grade! He hugs it and starts to put it in their cart.

"UH, DADDY! IS IT ON THE LIST?"

Daddies do it different in Alan Sitomer's Daddy's Back-to-School Shopping Adventure (Hyperion Books, 2015), and all of Daddy's can-the-consumerism lectures go out the window when he sees his favorite, favorite school supply in all the world for sale. Dad puts it back, the struggle to stick to his own sensible rules reflected all over his face, but there's a surprise ending to celebrate in Sitomer's latest Daddy story that brings hugs all around. Abby Carter's ebullient illustrations capture all the nuances of family interaction in this comic tale of school-supplies bought, or not.

Alan Sitomer's other stories of his irrepressible dad are Daddies Do It Different, and Daddy's Zigzagging Bedtime Story.