I couldn't help being drawn in by the cover of this book and I'm glad I did because I really like stories like these (origins). The art was very nice but I did think it was a bit dense, especially at the start when I wasn't sure what the story was yet. Still, I could clearly feel how it worked perfectly as an oral story, imagining myself as the child who asks about the sea parrots. Now I want to visit this place!

The art is very beautiful and the story is very educational for young readers. It's good we have stories from different cultures, especially for the children.

Fish-Boy is a retelling of an Inuit legend for sea-parrots written for children. The story is simply, well-told and easy to follow. The pages are accompanied by gorgeous illustrations that enhance the story. The text also includes some vocabulary from the Inuit language and also some ideas for lessons that would fit with the story such as a lesson on hospitality, how to treat guests and the environment.

Thank you Netgalley and Vanita Books for providing me with this beautiful book.
It is nice stylized folktale (I didn't quite get whether it as an actual tale or based on some stories or pure imagination?) with a lot of details which require focused reading.
Illustrations are beautiful but remind collage a little bit. Some of them were really striking, some were a a bit weird.
Overall it is a nice deep picture book.

Thank you Netgalley and Vanita Books for providing me with this beautiful copy of book.

Folklore stories always draws my attentions. I will choose it for my children expecially when it from foreign countries and written well. And Fish boy book give me all that qualities and more. Well this book delight me since begining with beautiful artwork from Mike Blanc.
I love how the story telling style is alluring and compliment this Inuit folklore so well. The author provide glossary too so kids can learn more from this storybook.

The Arctic region of North America is where this story takes place
A not much known Inuit-folktale forms its inspirational base

It's about a boy who'll change the hearts of all those following his trail
Because there's a beautiful lesson in his wonderful and magical tale*

*pun intended ;-)


************************************************************

Story

The Arctic region of North America (and Russia) forms the background of this interesting story about the power of kindness and hospitality, which is based on an Inuit folktale and retold by Vanita Oelschlager, a former teacher who was born and raised in Pittsburgh.

This book tells us the origin story of why there are so many sea-parrots (I knew those birds as 'puffins') on the stony islands of the far North.
It might be a little bit confusing for younger children because of the more difficult and resembling names of the characters, the structure of the story (the trade relation with the great hunter Menadluk has not much to do with the actual story and its sole purpose is to offer a frame of reference to introduce the Diomedes Islands and the sea-parrots) and the Inuit terminology. As regards the latter, most of these specific words are explained at the end of the book.

But otherwise this original folktale forms a nice blend between imagination and non-fiction.
Furthermore, it not only contains some good messages about social interaction, but it provides a very good starting point to dive further into different other fields as well.
It certainly made me curious to discover more about:
- geography: where are the Diomedes Islands and why are they called Yesterday Island and Tomorrow Island?
- cultural customs: what is an umiak and how is it made?
- …

Pictures

The beautiful illustrations of Fish-boy (and of many other books published by Vanita Books) are made by Mike Blanc. They are very colourful and vibrant.
Both the drawing style in this book and the very different ones of which you can see a glimpse on his website (https://www.mikeblanc.com/), make me really curious to discover more books illustrated by this gifted artist.


Vanita Books

A special mention of the publisher is absolutely in order here.
Not only does Vanita Books (https://vanitabooks.com/) offer lots of interesting and instructive titles in their catalogue, but they support charities as well. All net profits are donated to The Oak Clinic for Multiple Sclerosis and other charities where "people help people help themselves"..
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at 31, Jim Oelschlager founded the not-for-profit Oak Clinic, a facility where MS patients can get help for all aspects of the disease regardless of their ability to pay. His wife Vanita assisted him in these endeavours.
To read about their experiences and about their multiple other donations, just type their names in Google and you'll get an idea of their relentless commitment.


*Thanks to NetGalley and Vanita Books for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Grateful to have received a digital copy of this book from NetGally & Vanita books.

Fish Boy is an Inuit ancient folk tale told together with primitive, colorful images. This visually appealing story had refreshingly unique images that intrigues the senses. The tale of kindness and friendship was a bit of a challenge to read and not as magical as I had hoped. I think with a bit of additional explanation children would enjoy learning of the Fish Boy, while enjoying the beautiful artwork.

This is a beautiful Inuit story about Fish-Boy who is adopted by an Inuit fisherman and becomes famous for all of the fish he is able to catch. Fish-Boy is an armless mermaid boy that has amazing powers and a great ability to catch fish. He goes to several villages with his father, but the villagers treat Fish-Boy and his father with hostility. When Fish-Boy, his father, and his men are stranded on one of these hostile islands without a boat, Fish-Boy turns them into sea parrots so they are able to fly home. He turns his father and his men back into people when they reach their homes, but leaves the hostile villagers as sea parrots. This is an Inuit Folk Tale explaining why there are so many sea parrots.

I think this book would be ideal for my second and third grader. I enjoyed reading the folk tale, and the terms defined at the end of the book were helpful. Thank you to NetGalley and Vanita Books for this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fish-Boy is a retelling of an Inuit legend for sea-parrots, told in a simple and beautiful way. The language is very friendly for young children and incorporates words that do not have a direct English translation. I especially love the art here, because it makes good use of the two-page spread and is best enjoyed held in front of kids for a great storytelling session.

I had problems accessing this book online from NetGalley, but ended up finally getting the actual hardcover edition to read and review. The images are beautiful and I overall enjoyed the story.

This was a short fable-inspired picture book for younger children. It’s an okay book but not terribly engaging. There is an attempt at framing of the fable by having it told to a child, but telling the story in this way doesn’t really add much to the experience because that child is only in the book for a few pages. It is very much still a fable, there is a clear lesson to be learned from the story and the characters don’t try to emulate people so much as stereotypes of human ideals or flaws. I’m not sure this story would be enjoyed as entertainment by children in the age range 3-6 that this type of picture book often targets, but maybe it could be used for educational purposes for older children in that age range.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This book was ok. I had a hard time getting into and staying engaged. Would be goodt for a classroom or library.

The pictures that went with the book were great and really colorful.

Overall, I might read more by this author.

This was a refreshing story of an Inuit boy that turns into a fish. It was fun but also highlighted an often over-looked part of the population. The illustrations were lovely!

It is a story of a man who take Fish-boy, a boy with the tail of a fish and no arms, as his son. Together they fish and become famous. They travel to different towns where they are faced with hostility. Fish-boy saves his father and his men by turning them Into birds so they can fly away and turning them back to men when they got back to land.

It was really cool to see something different in a children's story. growing up in the 2000's and 2010's, I don't remember seeing much diversity in terms of race. The characters in this are Inuit which is a race I didn't hear about until high school. It was refreshing to see something new.

This is a beautiful book that is educational as well as an interesting story that will draw in young readers. The illustrations are wonderful and the writing is informative as well as gripping.

With a title of “Fish-Boy” and a fun, engaging cover, this seems like a winner of a book. A magical boy finds a father and uses his magic to punish would-be attackers.

But appearances can be deceiving and this volume has some aspects that should cause caution. For starters, we are told that this is an Inuit folk tale. But the author does not indicate in her book where she got the tale from. We are left to wonder if the tale is an actual Inuit tale or a fable of the author’s own invention. Other questions pop up, such as – why does the magical boy have white skin while the Inuit people are dark-skinned? These things should serve as caution when reading a seemingly harmless tale.

There are good folk tales out there and I would recommend reading one of them. You could read “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker” [Robbie Robertson] or “The First Strawberries” [Joseph Bruchac]. But I would be hesitant to hand someone a copy of “Fish-Boy”.

Fish-Boy is a story for children (and adults) that teaches so many things among the beautifully-illustrated pages. Most of all, I think it teaches kids about how we treat others, especially those who are different from us. Fish-Boy and his father are treated badly because of other villagers' prejudices in this story.

I really liked that there was a mini-dictionary in the back of the book because it helped me to understand words that were not familiar to me, even as an adult. It is an Inuit story from a culture I know very little about so this was a great way to introduce me to the culture. It's a story I will be reading to my children as they grow older, showing them about cultures different from their own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic copy of this book. This Inuit folktale is a wonderful addition to any multicultural library. I loved the vibrant colors and the unique art style. It added a great visual component and highlighted small details (carvings on the walking stick) to the story. This is a story of inclusion and teaches important lessons of respecting elders and learning from mistakes. I can’t wait to share this amazing book with my students.

Fish-Boy is a wonderful story within a story, where we learn about the Inuit folktale of a boy who became intrinsically linked to the people on the Diomedes Islands in the Arctic region of North America.

The art style and the colors used in the artwork are gorgeous and bring this story to life from the very first page. The colors and patterns in the artwork are layered, adding dimension and mimicking the nesting effect of the stories as well as portraying the magical and arctic aspects of it.

This was an incredibly enjoyable read, that both children and adults could learn from. I hope more of the Inuit stories are documented in beautiful forms like these.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a little more in-depth than some of the others we've been reading, but my son didn't mind. I had to explain a few things to him that went over his head, like why this boy wanted a stranger to be his father, and he was happy to go along with it.

The illustrations were beautiful and the story was fascinating. Fish-Boy is a story within a story, and I liked how they used an elaborate tale to explain why so many birds flocked to an island. They turned a simple question into a life lesson.