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H is for Hook: A Fishing Alphabet

Judy Young

Illustrated by Gary Palmer

Non-Fiction Picture Book (Series)

Ages 7 to 12

Sleeping Bear Press, 2008, 1-58536-347-2

  For many of us our first attempts at fishing took place when we were very young and it involved using a stick, some string, and a bent safety pin. Few of us had any luck catching much of anything with this equipment, but for some of us this first experience got us interested in fishing.

  This book was clearly written for those special people who have caught the fishing bug. For every letter of the alphabet the author has written a simple rhyming quatrain which explains what a fishing term or fishing related word means. Thus for the letter A the author has chosen to highlight the word Angler. In addition to the little poem, the author has written a longer section of prose for each letter of the alphabet, which explores the meaning of the word on that page in more detail. To compliment the poem and the prose section, Gary Palmer has created twenty six watercolor illustrations which provide more information, in visual form, about the highlighted word.

  For example, for the letter F the author looks at fly-fishing. There is the introductory quatrain and then a longer description which explains what fly-fishing is. The illustration on this page shows a man trying to catch a trout with a fly-fishing rod.

  What makes this book special is that it can be enjoyed on several levels. Young children can look at the pictures and will be able to understand the quatrains. Older children and adults will enjoy these but they will also have the informational sections of text to read, which will give them more background and details about the subjects being explored.

  The combination of the poetry, the prose, and the artwork is very effective and fishers, or would-be fishers, of all ages will find the book very interesting and illuminating.

 

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