Puffer's Surprise - a Smithsonian Oceanic Collection Book
Gr. 2-3. Combining a simple story line with plenty of specific detail, this look at a small puffer fish's day will engross, or perhaps even create, budding naturalists. Painted in intense tones of brown and gray, the speckled puffer stands out against its riotously colored but dimmer Galapagos reef community. Rising at dawn from a sandy bed, the fish seeks out sea urchins and other crunchy food, uses its special trick of ballooning up to discourage a hungry barracuda (later met again at a "cleaning station," where fish suspend hostilities as they line up to have parasites nibbled off), then narrowly escapes another predator before settling to the bottom as the day's light fades. Final notes provide additional information, plus a key to other species visible in the illustrations. Though packaged with an audiotape and a toy, this will stand alone; it can also be used as a companion to Sylvia Earle'sHello Fish! Visiting the Coral Reef(1999) or any of the plethora of similar underwater visits.John PetersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved