The Fish of Small Wishes

December 4, 2023
In a story with echoes of both “The Fisherman and His Wife” and The Carp in the Bathtub, a brown-skinned girl encounters a fish whose one wish-granting catch proves key to change. After other children, portrayed with various abilities and skin tones, head indoors, lonely Kiki Karpovich finds a giant fish stranded on the asphalt and carries it home. Revived in Kiki’s family bathtub, the fish offers to grant one wish. Kiki’s request for friends prompts an apology—“I am a fish of small wishes,” Arnold writes—and with every “too big” wish, the girl notices the fish growing. Seemingly concerned over its well-being, Kiki acts bravely and, through her actions, sees all of her wishes come true. Mora’s strokes of gouache, layered with inks, colored pencil, and digital collage, depict a blue-green world bubbling with possibility in this folktale-feeling work. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from December 1, 2023
Preschool-Grade 3 *Starred Review* Walking outdoors one day, Kiki notices a fish looking up at her from the asphalt and asking for help. She picks up it, runs home, and puts it in the bathtub. Submerged in water, the grateful fish thanks Kiki and says that it would like to grant her a small wish. Her first wish (lots of friends), her second (to be less shy), and even her third (a deep hole in her apartment building's courtyard) are too large for this "fish of small wishes" to manage. Kiki, who has noticed that the fish is growing, begins to dig a deep pond outside. She asks kids and adults to help, and together they create a new home for the fish. Meanwhile, Kiki has made many new friends, while also overcoming her shyness. Well suited to reading aloud, this imaginative narrative was inspired by a family story about Arnold's great-great-grandfather. The illustrations, created with gouache paints, colored pencils, inks, and collage, glow with warmth and color. While the art has a dreamlike element, the characters are neither idealized nor ethereal. Kiki is determined to save the fish, who seems embarrassed by its limited ability to grant wishes. Their down-to-earth demeanors and emotions suit this endearing picture book well.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2023
A fish helps a young girl forge connections. Kiki Karpovich, a brown-skinned girl with thick dark hair, doesn't have a lot of friends. Shy and quiet, she notices something glistening in the street. It turns out to be a huge fish mouthing the word help. Kiki rushes the fish home, fills the bathtub, and places the fish inside. It then reveals itself to be "a fish of small wishes." Kiki wishes for more friends, but that proves to be too big of a wish for the fish to handle. Her wish to be less shy is met with the same response, and when Kiki asks for help digging a big hole in her courtyard (for reasons that become clear only later), the fish repeats itself. So Kiki swallows her shyness, calls for help, and makes friends as the whole neighborhood unquestioningly pitches in, making a safe home for the fish to live in and granting Kiki her wishes at the same time. It's a sweet story but a bit uneven, with stray lines that feel out of place and a slow, understated tone. Mora's smudgy, saturated artwork depicts a racially diverse community. The author's note in the back, describing Arnold's Jewish family's practice of buying live carp for gefilte fish, has more life in it than the preceding tale. A quiet lesson about finding your voice. (Picture book. 4-7)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2024
Kiki Karpovich feels too shy to join in playing with the other kids on her vibrant, racially diverse city street. One day she looks down at the sidewalk and notices something odd: "The asphalt glistened like water in the heat. Kiki saw something...moving...a giant fish!...'Help,' it seemed to say." She rushes the creature inside, puts it in the bathtub, and fills up the tub, thus saving its life. When the grateful fish, surprisingly, offers up a wish, Kiki asks to be granted lots of friends. This request is too big for our "fish of small wishes," so Kiki goes away to think. "I wish I weren't so shy," she says to the (now larger) fish, but this is also beyond its scope. The next day she has a new idea, including a way to help the fish, but again: no deal. Finally, in contemplating their interactions, she's able to fulfill her own wishes and assist her fishy friend. Color-splashed and varied mixed-media illustrations ably and playfully reflect both the story's fantastical and down-to-earth elements. An appended note describes Arnold's inspiration: a story her grandmother told about her own kindhearted grandfather's fish rescue. ("No gefilte fish for Passover" that year.)

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)