CONTENT: G
BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) -- NOT RECOMMENDED
AUDIENCE APPEAL -- AVERAGE
When a little girl's grandfather moves into her apartment in the middle of the city, she feels sorry for him. After all, his biggest hobby is fishing -- something he can't exactly do from their balcony. Except...maybe he can. What sorts of things could the two of them catch in the city?
I wanted to like this book. Many of the illustrations are very pretty, and it is a fun premise. Unfortunately, the line between reality and imagination is definitely blurry in this one, so it seems as if the girl and her grandfather really are fishing off the balcony of their apartment, using hooks to reel in jewelry, hats, and pets from the pedestrians passing below. In addition, the depiction of "Mexican Capfish" with a sombrero-wearing Hispanic man taking a siesta in the middle of all the productive people around him is an offensive cliche that needs to die out immediately. And what kind of city is this where the only Asians shown are described as "new and exotic?" (They are, of course, tourists, toting around cameras and stopping to take pictures of everything -- yet another racist cliche.) I prefer to populate my library with books that don't encourage dangerous hobbies, thievery, and racist stereotypes, thank you very much.
Sydney G., K-6 Library Media Specialist
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