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|---|---|---|
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Summary
Summary
The best-selling The Lion and the Bird featured the enchanting stories and art of Canadian children's book author Marianne Dubuc. The Fish and the Cat is a playful story of pursuit between a cat and pet fish that starts in the house, moves through the neighborhood, and ends in the sky with a chase around the stars and the moon. This wordless picture book, full of action and humor, encourages children to create their own stories and adventures.
Author Notes
Marianne Dubuc's other books include In Front of My House , Mr. Postmouse's Round , and The Bus Ride She lives in Montréal.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-This wordless title starts with a fish quietly sitting in its bowl. That is, until the house cat disturbs it. Frantic, the red-scaled pet leaps out the window and flies away. From town to forest to starry sky, the black-and-white feline follows undeterred. Finally, the fish finds a place that the cat isn't willing to go. In peace, it splashes about, leaving its companion, who just had a big adventure. Even though the mundane gains a slightly fantastical edge in this story, the art style always sticks to the former, thus giving the impression that this is an everyday sort of experience. Dubuc's use of space to convey distance, tension, and control the reading pace is noteworthy. This humorous adventure may be straightforward, but there is just enough flexibility in the narrative to let a child's imagination take flight. Originally published under the title La Mer, this edition will make a wonderful addition to a collection's wordless selection. VERDICT Whether it is used to introduce the concept of visual storytelling or to offer images as a writing prompt, this expertly executed wordless adventure offers viewers much to talk about and explore.-Rachel Forbes, Oakville Public Library, Ont. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This tale by Canadian artist Dubuc (The Lion and the Bird) is in essence one long, wordless chase scene, but in her hands it acquires texture, drama, and imaginative power. In an empty room, a goldfish swims in a bowl, its red scales the only color on the black-and-white penciled spreads. A cat with a long, exaggerated nose dips its paw in the water. The goldfish darts away; after some tense evasions, it sprouts wings and flies out the window. The cat pursues the fish with an expression of goofy curiosity, while the fish looks harassed but stoic. The chase moves from tiled roofs through trees, then out into space-its darkness exquisitely cross-hatched in soft black pencil-and then back to earth again, until at last the fish finds a place that the cat can't go. The slow-moving suspense casts a strange spell, and the way the fish breaks the rules of nature and gravity and still can't get rid of its pesky pursuer gives the spreads humor. It's a quiet victory for the weak over the strong, and even the youngest readers can follow it with pleasure. Ages 2-up. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When a cat reaches into a fishbowl, its occupant flaps its fins and flies into the air and straight out the window. The ensuing chase finds the red-and-white fish--a rare spot of color in the predominantly black-and-white art--hiding in a tree, zooming around in space, etc. This unpredictable tale may be wordless, but the characters' expressions are so telling that nothing goes unsaid. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A wordless chase: in this 92-page visual narrative, a somewhat bemused cat pursues a domestic fish.It all begins in a house. The compositions are rendered in black and gray except for the crimson fishand later, strategically placed matching birds. The feline approaches the fishbowl and stirs the water, swirling it faster and faster. Its smile is impossible to decipher: threatening or playful? What appeared to be small fish fins now become wings; the swimmer ascends and soars through the window. The hunt begins over tiled rooftops, past diaphanous laundry, and into a leafy, stylized forestwhere a red bird is given a scare until the pursuer realizes the mistake. Following the fish to the moon, the cat traverses stars like steppingstonesa captivating image. The penultimate setting is a tunnel through which the fish escapes, flying into the sea. Tentatively pawing the water, the hunter is left to stare into the sunsetand readers to interpret its feelings. Though Dubuc has created many books since, this 2007 title was her first. Originally entitled La mer and only now seeing publication in the United States, it won Quebec's 2008 Prix Lux/Grafika award for illustration. Dubuc's designs range from a whimsical wallpaper pattern that suggests paw prints to tiny lines on a gray background that create a pulsing force field around the stars.An unhurried pace and graphically arresting scenes build suspense and wonderment in equal measure, providing space for reflection and tantalizing questions. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This captivating wordless adventure begins in a realistic setting, as a cat watches a fish swimming alone in a bowl. Dramatic two-page spreads rendered in black, gray, and white, with red as the sole accent color portray swirling energies as the cat reaches into the bowl and the fish desperately tries to get away. As the fish spirals, its small fins elongate. With the fins now acting as wings, the fish surges through an open window. The quirky action continues as the cat walks along rooftops, following the flying fish, before transitioning to a forest setting. Then it gets stranger: the fish leaves the earth, and the cat, walking atop the stars and moons and hitching aboard a shooting star, follows. Humorously, the cat still won't get in the water and that's how the fish makes its final escape. Dubuc, author-illustrator of the emotional The Lion and the Bird (2014), here offers a more esoteric tale; some kids will find it just plain weird, but others, no doubt, will find it just the thing to get them giggling.--Whitehurst, Lucinda Copyright 2018 Booklist