Children’s Book Review: Do Witches Make Fishes?

Media Type: Print Book
Title: Do Witches Make Fishes?
Author: Jason Mayo
Illustrator: Justin Wolfson
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Pages: Paperback; 36
Release Date: August 3, 2010
Source: Author
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Recommended to: Parents and educators looking for a funny tale about eating healthy.

Difficulty Level: Any age. This book can be read out loud (with voices!) for younger children, but is simple enough to be read alone by older children.

Add it on: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N

“Do Witches Make Fishes?” is the moral tale of a young boy who favors candy over his mother’s outlandish but healthy dishes. When faced with an ultimatum from his mother, the boy has to make a difficult choice. What ensues is a series of extraordinary and fantastical events that will take the reader on a magical journey through the imagination of a child. In the end, you will find yourself asking, Do Witches Make Fishes?

As an educator, there are three things I look for when I pick a book for my kids. Especially when said book is going to be used for something kids get bored easily by, like nutrition. The illustrations need to be eye catching, the story needs to be easy for the kids to follow, and there needs to be a bit of humor. When you work with first and second graders, trust me, getting them to giggle is the key to keeping them involved! When I picked up Do Witches Make Fishes? and skimmed through it, I knew I’d found a gem.

Justin Wolfson is the illustrator for this book and I commend him for his fabulous work! Each page shines with vivid color, and has interesting textures. Essentially they are a treat for the eyes! The kids in my class were constantly making comments about the pages and talking about what would happen next. They giggled over the backgrounds and gasped over the scarier scenes. When a class of first graders are that invested in a book, I’m impressed!

The story line is also fantastic. At its core, this book is a morality tale about eating healthy. Through a silly and over the top story, the little boy finds out his mom’s healthy food isn’t as bad as it seems. Each page has rhyming sentences, and I took this as an opportunity to discuss rhyming words along with our nutrition lesson. Anytime a book presents more than one “teachable moment” I’m so happy! This book is sticking with me for my next class. I guarantee it!

Do Witches Make Fishes? is one of the cutest books dealing with nutrition I’ve seen! From the moment that I opened the story to the first page the kids were hooked. They loved the rhyming, were struck by the illustrations, and I think they may have even learned something! Gasp, I know!

Rating: 4 Keys to My Heart

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.