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HEY! : a colorful mystery
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2021
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Booklist Review
A tiny pink fish asks if anyone wants to play, but the small request is unheard or ignored. A larger, more forceful "Hey!" starts a cascade of misunderstandings, with other fish thinking the sound came from something scary, loud, and enormous. The problems escalate as the creatures become increasingly agitated and pass on exaggerated fears and rumors about the supposedly terrifying creature. In a confused swirl of color and motion, all the sea creatures flee to a dark cave, which they do not realize is actually the mouth of a whale. Tension mounts as it appears they are doomed, but the pink fish, still hoping for playmates, unleashes another "Hey!" that startles the whale. Digital illustrations, created using an imaginative mix of collage and monoprint, effectively incorporate speech bubbles to add emphasis to the conversations. Alliterative adjectives and color names are used to rhythmic effect in the entertaining narrative. A section at the end further illustrates the concepts of primary, secondary, and complementary colors.
Kirkus Review
An underwater "Henny Penny." A little pink fish wants to find a playmate. "HEY!" yells the fish into the deep, dark waters. Unfortunately, a striped yellow fish hears only the booming sound. "EEK! There's something scary in there!" Fish after fish repeats the warning, bubbling in excitement and exaggerating each time. "There's something enormous in there!" becomes "There are hundreds of them!" Nervousness shimmers through the water. Read takes this opportunity to add in a bit of color recognition and alliteration: "Really rattled," the red octopus "petrified" three purple puffer fish, which "startle the blue shoal," which "terrif[ies] the green turtle," and so on (alas, the "orange crabs" look more red than orange). There is pandemonium under the sea. "The whole ocean floor shook into a fizzing, frothing frenzy, fleeing to… / …the safety of a deep dark cave." But is it really a cave? Read pushes the oceanic animals to the brink of disaster, very close to one terrifyingly large chomp, but luckily, the little pink fish is there to save the day. Bright, energetic art, with schools of colorful fish, creates a brilliantly colored undersea menagerie. The fishy dialogue is conveyed in literal speech bubbles and is frequently laugh-out-loud witty: "Crawl for your lives!" cries a snail. A spread on color theory concludes the book. Falsehoods (and fish) move quite quickly in this amusing underwater romp. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Summary
A wild rumor grows out of control and spooks a cast of ocean creatures in this color-learning picture book from Kate Read, the award-winning author-illustrator of One Fox: A Counting Book Mystery.

All is quiet in the deep blue sea, until a tiny pink fish is mistaken for something scary. Suddenly, tales bursts forth about a "great big fish hiding in the deep!" Readers discover a color each time a new fish becomes entangled in the mayhem and hysterics.

The red octopus was really rattled, which petrified the purple puffer fish, and startled the blue shoal, until they all flee...into a deep, dark cave. Uh-oh! That's no cave at all!

Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Honor Award-winner Kate Read returns with a clever oceanic twist on the old telephone game starring a tiny pink fish and schools of brilliantly hued fish in a deep blue sea. As the chatter spreads, young readers will also explore different varieties of sea animals.

Back matter includes an introduction to simple color theory.
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