Children s nonfiction / Nature ISBN 978-1-56145-429-7 $15.95 JUSTIN MANN Susan Stockdale has written and illustrated several picture books, including SOME SLEEP STANDING UP; NATURE S PAINTBRUSH, an NSTA Out - stand ing Science Trade Book for Children; and CARRY ME! ANIMAL BABIES ON THE MOVE, which received awards from Parents Choice, the National Science Teachers Association, and Bank Street College of Education. Before becoming a full-time author- www.peachtree-online.com STOCKDALE Fabulous Fishes Fishes Fabulous Fabulous Fishes come in all sorts of interesting shapes, sizes, and colors and many of them can do amazing things as well. Can you imagine Fish that leap and glide? Fish that crawl on the land? Fish that flash lights? They re all real! In her latest book, noted author-illustrator Susan Stockdale introduces young readers to both exotic and familiar fishes in simple, rhyming text. The bright, bold illustrator, Stockdale worked as an art colors and crisp, clear lines of gallery manager, a special events coordinator, a public relations director, and a textile designer. Her work with textiles gave her the opportunity to express her love of pattern and Stockdale s fishes, depicted in their natural habitats, can t help but grab your attention. An afterword identifies each animal and tells a color, which still inspires her artwork little bit about it and where it lives. today. Stockdale lives with her family outside Washington, D.C., and visits schools frequently. Visit her website at www.susanstockdale.com....an excellent teaching tool and an appealing introduction to the wide Kirkus world of fish. Reviews Stockdale uses simple rhymes and clear, colorful acrylic artwork to introduce the fascinating underwater world of School fishes. Library Journal An exciting way to prepare kids for a visit to the Booklist aquarium. ISBN 13: 978-1-56145-429-7 ISBN 10: 1-56145-429-X Every turn of the page reveals vivid paintings of exotic as well as common underwater creatures to Written and Illustrated by Susan Stockdale Printed and manufactured in Singapore
Fabulous Fishes Written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale
For Jennifer, Janet, and Lulu, with me every step of the way in creating this book S. S. Special thanks to Dr. David Johnson of the National Museum of Natural History for his consistent, cheerful support and research assistance. Thanks also to Michelle Sattler and Mark Schick of the Shedd Aquarium and Jonelle Verdugo of the Monterey Bay Aquarium for their helpfulness. Published by PEACHTREE PUBLISHERS 1700 Chattahoochee Avenue Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112 www.peachtree-online.com Text and illustrations 2008 by Susan Stockdale All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Art direction by Loraine M. Joyner Typesetting by Melanie McMahon Ives The illustrations were created in acrylic on paper. Fish pictured on the endpapers: Front, left to right: fisher s angelfish, convict fish, Moorish Idol, eightlined wrasse (Hawaiian reefs); Back, left to right: pennantfish, yellow-tail wrasse (Hawaiian reefs) Printed in Singapore 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stockdale, Susan. Fabulous fishes / written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale. p. cm. ISBN 13: 978-1-56145-429-7 / ISBN 10: 1-56145-429-X 1. Fishes--Juvenile literature. I. Title. QL617.2.S72 2008 597--dc22 2007029749 Round fish,
clownfish, fish that like to hide.
Striped fish, spiked fish,
fish that leap and glide.
Sand fish, land fish,
fish that flash their lights.
Speckled fish, spotted fish,
fish with tails curled tight.
Shiny fish, spiny fish,
fish that hitch a ride.
Flatfish, catfish,
fish that ride the tide.
Fish that swim in numbers, fish that swim alone.
No matter what they look like, they call the water home.
The discus is flat and round like a pancake, allowing it to swim easily among upright reeds. (Amazon basin) The flyingfish bursts up out of the water, spread its fins, and glides through the air to escape larger fish. (Warm ocean waters worldwide) The bluespotted stingray has stinging spines on its whiplike tail, which it uses to defend itself. (Oceans worldwide) The catfish uses feelers on its face to search for food on the river bottom. (Freshwaters of all continents except the Antarctic, and many oceans worldwide) The clownfish hides safely among the poisonous tentacles of sea anemones. It is protected from the poison by a slimy substance on its skin. (Pacific and Indian oceans) The giant kelpfish can change color to look like a piece of kelp. (Eastern Pacific Ocean) The butterflyfish uses its long, pointed snout to search the cracks of coral for tiny animals to eat. (Indian, Pacific, and Western and Eastern Central Atlantic oceans) When threatened, the porcupinefish blows up like a spiky balloon so it will appear too large to fit into a predator s mouth. (Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans) The garden eel retreats into its sandy sea burrow at the slightest alarm. (Oceans worldwide) The mudskipper use its front fins like little legs to pull itself up, skip along the muddy shore, and even climb trees. (Coastal mangrove forests and mudflats worldwide) Lanternfishes and hatchetfishes flash lights located along their sides to stay together in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean. (Oceans worldwide) Every year, the steelhead rainbow trout travels from the salty ocean water to fresh water to lay its eggs. (Eastern Pacific Ocean, but widely introduced elsewhere) The seahorse has a long tail like a monkey, which it uses to hold on to ocean plants. (Tropical coastal waters worldwide) The silver bellies and sides of sardines help them blend with the shiny light from the sky, making them almost invisible to predators. (Oceans worldwide) When threatened, the lionfish turns the sharp, venomous spines on its back toward its enemies. (Indian, Pacific, and western Atlantic oceans) Remoras attach themselves to a whale shark by suction disks on their heads, hitching a ride for miles and feeding on the shark s leftovers. (Oceans worldwide) The flounder can adjust the colored markings on its flat, discshaped body to match the ocean floor. Its eyes are located on the same side of its head. (Oceans worldwide) California grunions swim up on shore during high tide and bury their eggs on the sandy beach. (Pacific Ocean) Bluestriped snappers travel in groups or schools to better defend themselves from predators. (Indo-Pacific Ocean) The swordfish uses its long, sharp bill like a sword to kill other fishes. (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans; the Mediterranean Sea; the Sea of Marmara; the Black Sea; and the Sea of Azov.) The bright yellow mouth of the clown triggerfish resembles that of a clown. (Indo-Pacific Ocean) Also pictured on the last spread: fairy basslets (the orange fish is female and the multicolored fish is male); the emperor angelfish (yellow fish with blue stripes); and the blueringed angelfish (orange fish with blue stripes).
These are just a few of the many books I found helpful in developing the text and illustrations for FABULOUS FISHES: ALL ABOUT SHARKS by Jim Arnosky (Scholastic) CLASSIFYING FISH by Richard and Louise A. Spilsbury (Heinemann) DISCOVERING SALTWATER FISH by Alwyne Wheeler (Franklin Watts) NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY FIRST FIELD GUIDE: FISHES by C. Lavett Smith (Scholastic) FISH: A FIRST DISCOVERY BOOK edited by Sabine Krawczyk and Claude Delafosse (Scholastic) FISH DO THE STRANGEST THINGS by Leonora and Arthur Hornblow (Random House) FISHES: A GUIDE TO FRESH- AND SALT-WATER SPECIES by Herbert S. Zim and Hurst H. Shoemaker (St. Martins Press) FISHES: A TRUE BOOK by Melissa Stewart (Children s Press) KILLER FISH by Russell Freedman (Holiday House) RAYS: ANIMALS WITH AN ELECTRIC CHARGE by Andreu Llamas (Gareth Stevens Publishing) SEA HORSES by Elaine Landau (Children s Press) WHAT IS A FISH? by Lola M. Schaefer (Capstone Press) WHAT IS A FISH? by Robert Snedden (Sierra Club Books)