SPLOTCH

An unsuspecting boy, his dead pet fish, and his well-intentioned mother make this a must-read for fans of The Bear Ate Your Sandwich and I Want My Hat Back.

Told in short statements (Before school. Noon. After school.) and mostly set in one room, SPLOTCH shows a boy's love of his pet fish, Splotch (so named for the distinctive splotch on his body). Only one day "After school", the fish bowl is empty! The boy is sure that Splotch's been fish-napped or maybe taken by aliens. His mother knows better. Or more accurately, worse. But there's a new Splotch in the bowl by the next day. Only the boy suddenly realizes it's a Splotch imposter! Will the real Splotch stand up? Both boy and mom come up with a solution and everyone's happy (including the third Splotch) but none the wiser. Except for the reader!

A picture book mystery! Children will enjoy trying to figure out where the fish are coming from and where they're going to. Visual clues help them figure it out!

Very funny and surprising. It's hard to read this picture book without gasping and laughing!

A stand-out for summer! The blues, greens, and oranges in the watercolor paintings are a visual treat and are sure to stand-out on bookstore shelves and tables.

The perfect picture book for reluctant readers and/or those who prefer very brief text. The story is mostly told through the illustrations.

Gianna Marino was born in San Francisco and spent her early years galloping horses through Golden Gate Park. Gianna had several jobs at once: apprenticing a muralist, a jewelry designer, a product designer and driving horse carriages through the park. Between projects and then college, Gianna visited West, East and North Africa, India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Noumea, crewed on sailboats in Mexico and the Caribbean and lived in Europe for a time. She now lives and works in the Napa Valley and still gallops on horses.