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Fish L. S. Matthews Delacorte Press © 2004
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Fish is a book about a boy and his parents who, before the story begins, leave their home country to help needy people in the land they go to. But, a threat of war coming to this territory drives the boy and his family on a long, difficult journey back to their home country. Before they leave to go home, the boy finds a fish that is unusually large for it’s puddle home. He knows somehow inside him that he must take the fish back with him, to find it a proper home, in a lake, for example.
The book wasn’t, in my opinion, too bad, but I don’t think it was great. The author does use detail well in her descriptions, but far too much of the book is much the same. The things that happen on their journey don’t tie together well, giving the novel the choppy feel of a short stories collection, but with the stories taking place one after another. I think the author’s skill could be better used toward another fiction book, but as an aspiring writer myself, I understand how difficult it can be to come up with an idea strong enough to wind into a whole story, let alone a novel.
This is the type of book we might read for a class or for the extra-curricular Book Club at my school. It’s not too long, and it’s about something an American middle-class group of children couldn’t really relate to. I would recommend this book to a teacher for their class, as long as I wasn’t in it.
~ Emma Shebat, grade 7, Canfield Village Middle School