GONE FISHING

There is something so appropriate about the marriage of poetry and the subject of fishing in Tamera Will Wissinger's debut GONE FISHING with adorable illustrations by Matthew Cordell.

It's a classic sibling story that reminds me of a picture book my kids loved called I WISH MY BROTHER WAS A DOG by Carol Diggory Shields with illustrations by Paul Meisel. Sibling-love is certainly a roller-coaster-ish adventure, as these books show.

And the poems! We get Sam's voice as well as little sister Lucy's, and there is much to love. Here's one in Sam's voice:

FIRST CATCH
Lyric Poem

I wish a fish
     I wish a fish
          I wish a fish would bite.

I hope I catch
     I hope I catch
          A fish before tonight.

I think I feel
     I think I feel
          I think I feel a tap.

I reel it in,
     I see a fin,
          And then I catch


                 A cap.

copyright 2013 Tamera Will Wissinger

Cute, huh? I'm thinking first graders will be asking for poles and buckets and worms (or crickets, which is what we use in these parts).

I do hope you'll read it. Fun and sweet. And appropriate, as I am signing off today, on my way to Hattiesburg, MS, for Fay B. Kaigler, where I hope I'll catch a fish *this* big.

Before I go, though, a fishing photo from the Latham Family Archives, circa 2003:

Happy day to you!