2024-07-05
A betta fish secretly longs for friendship in Schneider’s illustrated children’s book.
Arty is a purple betta (also known as a Siamese fighting fish) who feels the weight of always having to be a fighter. It’s a lonely life when other fish are always afraid of you. Before the beginning of the story, Arty asks the reader, “Hello. Can I ask you something? Did you ever have a wish, a secret wish, that you know you shouldn’t wish, but you just do?” Arty reveals some secret thoughts of his own: Nobody likes him, he’s alone, and he’s always felt different. At betta school, all of the other fish seem content to fight all the time and be aggressive warriors, but bettas are also curious by nature, and Arty wants a friend. He decides to go in search of the wise old Snail for advice. Along the way, he meets a sea slug and, being a betta, squashes him. But then Arty apologizes, and the sea slug’s curiosity is piqued: “He said sorry?! This is not how bettas act!” Intrigued, the sea slug follows Arty, and when a hungry red piranha attacks the betta, the sea slug saves Arty’s life. To Arty’s surprise, the sea slug becomes his friend. Schneider’s comic-book illustrations depict foamy watercolor seascapes; the characters are mostly rendered in muted block colors with bold black pen outlines that make their features pop. The book uses classic comic framing—split panels on many pages and bold thought, speech, and action bubbles. Diverting little details, like exclamation and question marks, musical notes, and captions (like “DANCE PARTY!” when Arty is imagining what friendship must be like) add texture to an already spellbinding read. The growing friendship between Arty and the slug is dynamic—sometimes funny, droll, or sarcastic, sometimes sweet and sentimental. The buoyant prose keeps the pace up even when Arty is having his existential crisis, and the slug (who eventually settles on the name Slug), with his googly eyes and placid expression, makes for a most charming foil.
A quirky and ingenious deep-sea dive into an unlikely friendship between two enchanting outsiders.(Ages: 4-12, picture book, comic book)
