Don't Trust Fish! is an absurdly hilarious spoof non-fiction picture book all about fish and how we absolutely must not trust them. It’s written by celebrated Irish playwright and author Neil Sharpson and illustrated by New York Times bestseller and Caldecott Medal-winning Dan Santat.
The story
Have you ever noticed that fish spend all of their time under water? What are they plotting down there? And did you know that a group of fish is called a ‘school’? Exactly what are they learning in these ‘schools’? We must find answers. But one thing’s for sure. Whatever you do: Don’t. Trust. Fish.
Laugh along as you learn lots of fishy facts from a very suspicious narrator, who believes that there’s something more than a bit fishy about fish… Prepare to laugh, learn, and maybe even look at your pet goldfish a little differently.
Although Don’t Trust Fish is primarily a humorous picture book, there are some really interesting facts about fish as well as a serious underlying message about the extent to which we should believe not to trust certain groups of people (or animals in this case). The crab, who turns out to the narrator, has an anti-fish agenda, which may inspire interesting conversations with children about who we should trust and why, and why we shouldn’t make generalisations or jump to conclusions. As well as being a genuinely funny book, it has a powerful subtext.
