Don't Trust Fish

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An absurdly laugh-out-loud funny picture book about the villainy of fish, illustrated by National Book Award-winning creator Dan Santat

"A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on." —Kirkus, starred review

ONE OF SLATE'S 25 GREATEST PICTURE BOOKS OF THE PAST 25 YEARS
ONE OF BOOKPAGE'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Magazine, NPR, Chicago Public Library, Smithsonian Magazine, Libby, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Lunch, BookPage, Booklist, School Library Journal, Book Riot, BCCB, Imagination Soup, Parent Map, The Children's Book Review, EBSCO NoveList

Why, dear reader, must you NEVER EVER trust fish?

1) They spend all their time in the water where we can’t see them.
2) Some are as big as a bus—that is not okay.
3) We don't know what they're teaching in their "schools."
4) They are likely plotting our doom.

This nature-guide-gone-wrong is a hilarious, off-the-rails exploration of the seemingly innocent animals that live in the water.★ "[A] rapid-fire comedy of piscine paranoia." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on." —Kirkus, starred review

★ "With exceptional timing in a dry comic voice, veteran playwright and novelist Sharpson's picture-book debut is immersively silly fun, while award winner Santat's always-superb art lands at every possible visual punch line." —Booklist, starred review

★ “Sharpson and Santat's co-creation is a symbiotic marvel.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review

★ “Wonderfully hilarious…Don’t Trust Fish is an educational and highly entertaining delight, sure to inspire interest in oceanography and ichthyology—and lots of rereads.” —BookPage, starred review

★ "A must for every library. It is accessible to young and old, wildly entertaining, and effortlessly instructive."—School Library Journal, starred review

“Consider a book that makes everybody, and I do mean everybody, laugh from the cover onwards. THAT, my friends, is a picture book worth celebrating! That is a rarity! That… is Don’t Trust Fish.” —Betsy Bird, Fuse #8, School Library Journal

“Starting from an already comedic premise, this story goes gleefully off the rails, moving from funny to absolutely and wonderfully absurd, helped along by illustrations that build on jokes in previous spreads.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's BooksNeil Sharpson lives in Dublin with his wife and their two children. Having written for theater since his teens, Neil transitioned to writing novels in 2017, adapting his play The Caspian Sea into When The Sparrow Falls. A huge fan of animation, Neil writes Unshaved Mouse, a comedic review blog mostly focusing on animated film and comic book movies.

Dan Santat is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of over a hundred books, including the National Book Award winning graphic memoir A First Time for Everything. His picture book The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend received the Caldecott Medal. He also illustrated The Blur, Lift, and Drawn Together, both written by Minh Lê, which received critical acclaim. Dan is also the creator of the Disney animated hit The Replacements. He lives in Southern California with his family.