You Can Make a Friend, Pout-Pout Fish! by Deborah Diesen -- OPTIONAL

You Can Make a Friend, Pout-Pout Fish! by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna. PICTURE BOOK. Farrar Straus Giroux (Macmillan), 2019. $5. 

BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K, EL (K-3) - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Pout-Pout Fish is feeling extra pouty because everyone but him seems to have a friend at school. Then he realizes that he has been waiting for friends to come to him. Instead, he decides to smile and approach others. Suddenly he finds himself with not just one friend, but three -- and more on the way!

While clunky and not particularly unique, Mr. Fish's story is a good introduction to how to make friends, and it would be a good discussion piece. The large font and simple sentences make it accessible for many first- and second-grade students.

Reviewer: Sydney G., certified library media specialist