The pout-pout fish by Deborah Diesen

Ill. by Dan Hanna. Scholastic, 2011. ISBN 9781 74283 006 3.
Picture book. The pout-pout fish with its very 'botox' filled lips, lies at the bottom of the ocean disconsolate. His lips are big and glum looking, putting other fish off. He asks many fish, his friends, about what to do, but they all ask him to smile, not to be so glum, turn his lips upside down. Fish ask him not to greet him with a scowl, but he cannot help it, it is the way his lips just are. Eventually he lies upside down on the bottom of the sea and a fish going by, seeing his lips upside down, kisses him, on his beautiful kissable lips. This turns his life around.
Told in rhyme, the story will entice younger readers to predict what will happen with the rhyming lines and offer suggestions for words that rhyme with the line before. The illustrations will prove enticing for curious readers, seeking out all the sea creatures shown on each page. And of course, all end up kissing the glum looking fish, encouraging the students to talk about the value of appearance and judging people by their appearance.
Fran Knight