Ten Little Fish

by Audrey Wood, Bruce Robert Wood (Illustrator)

Overview

Bestselling author Audrey Wood and artist son Bruce create an undersea counting book that's full of the same vivid imagery and fun story elements that have made their alphabet books so successful!

It's an undersea countdown in the newest book by bestselling author Audrey Wood and her dynamic, digital-artist son, Bruce. Follow ten little fish as they swim along a beautiful ocean reef, one by one departing from the school for different reasons, eventually leaving one fellow all alone. What will he do? Along comes another, and that makes two! Soon he becomes a father and she becomes a mother--with ten little children of their own. The rhyming text helps readers go from one to ten and back again, and each illustration pops with all the color and depth of an underwater playground.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780439635691
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	63,444
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Audrey Wood has been writing award-winning children's books for more than thirty years, and she is a fourth-generation artist. She often collaborates with her husband, Caldecott Honor illustrator Don Wood (THE NAPPING HOUSE; KING BIDGOOD'S IN THE BATHTUB; IT'S DUFFY TIME!), and she created many bestselling books with their son, Bruce Wood (ALPHABET MYSTERY; TEN LITTLE FISH). Audrey has illustrated numerous popular books herself, including SILLY SALLY, A DOG NEEDS A BONE, and BLUE SKY (2012). She lives with her husband in Hawaii, under the blue sky, rain sky, and changing-all-day sky.

As a fifth-generation professional artist, I grew up with art all around me – in the studios of my parents and grandparents. I have always been very interested in art – it always seemed like a lot of fun.

One of the major advantages of growing up in a family of artists is the support you receive while learning your art form. It was also a unique experience. One year for my birthday, my parents made me a kid-sized cardboard castle out of refrigerator boxes in our backyard. It took me a few years to realize that not all my friends' parents were as creative as mine.

My initial interest in digital art came about at a young age. I started using Commodore 64's when I was eleven or twelve, and by age thirteen, I could do basic programming. Since then, I was always interested in how companies made computer games, and I think that's what ultimately led me to 3-D design.

In 1991, I attended the California Institute of the Arts, where I studied drama and advanced my interest in art created on the computer. Then, in 1993, I decided to enroll in the innovative San Francisco State Multimedia Center, where I pursued my long-standing interest in designing computer programs by studying animation and 3-D modeling.

This year I joined my family's creative team and illustrated my first book, The Christmas Adventure of Space Elf Sam. The book took me over two years to make, and it was a true family collaboration. My mom wrote the story and my dad, Don Wood, functioned as art director.

I love telling stories with my art, and picture books are just that. And of course, I love seeing the face of a young child, sitting on a bookstore floor, completely immersed in a book that I have created.

Aside from being a children's book illustrator, I also surf, snowboard, and sail, which means that I do get to see the sun sometimes.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus
Review Date: AUGUST 01, 2004
This charming, colorful counting tale of ten little fish runs full-circle. Although the light verse opens and closes with ten fish swimming in a line, page-by-page the line grows shorter as the number of fish diminishes one-by-one. One fish dives down, one gets lost, one hides, and another takes a nap until a single fish remains. Then along comes another fish to form a couple and suddenly a new family of little fish emerges to begin all over. Slick, digitally-created images of brilliant marine flora and fauna give an illusion of underwater depth and silence enhancing the verse's numerical and theatrical progression. The holistic story bubbles with life's endless cycle. (Picture book. 3-5)
School Library Journal
October 1, 2004

PreS-K-From 10 to 1, this creative counting book features a school of colorful, Nemo-like fish as they gradually disappear from readers' view. Each spread contains a couplet with the final rhyming number word appearing after turning the page-"Ten Little Fish, swimming in a line./One dives down, and now there are-." The cleverness is not in the poetry, but rather in the simple plot line. After the author counts down to 1, she quickly brings the number back up again, as the final fish finds a mate and they have 10 little babies. The digitally created art has a 3-D appearance. In one picture, a fish peers out of a glass bottle at the bottom of the sea, and its features are appropriately distorted. Bubbles with a luminescent sheen surround all of the brightly colored creatures. The clear-water turquoise and vibrant chartreuse used for the backgrounds stunningly show off the multicolored animals. This concept book will appeal to children who are drawn to the filmlike artistry of the pictures.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Booklist
August 1, 2004

PreS. In this simple counting story from the mother-son team, glossy computer-generated illustrations show a school of cute, expressive tropical fish that disappear, one per spread, providing a descending counting exercise that leaves one yellow fish. Then lonely yellow meets and falls in love with an attractive green that happens by, and the two parents create a new school of fish to be counted. The circular story and the bouncing rhymes, which create just the right suspense with each page turn, will encourage preschoolers to gleefully chant along, and the bright, tropical underwater world filled with adorable Nemo-like fish will delight young fans of the cartoon feature. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist

Publishers Weekly
July 19, 2004
Mother-and-son team Audrey and Bruce Wood (Alphabet Adventury) turn from ABC to 1, 2, 3 as they introduce Ten Little Fish, a knee-bouncing, countdown. One by one, the fish become diverted: "Five Little Fish, swimming by the shore./ One grabs a snack, and now there are..." When only one remains, he meets his soulmate, and they birth a new school of 10 fish. Bruce Wood's cheeky, 3-D illustrations owe a debt to Finding Nemo as he constructs an inviting undersea landscape. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

From the Publisher