AGATHA MAY AND THE ANGLERFISH

There’s a new social outcast in town.

Messy, tardy, and dreamy, Agatha May is not what you’d call a teacher’s pet. Indeed, Mrs. Marino can hardly explain the class’s next assignment without constantly calling the girl out for her behavior. Students are instructed to choose a deep-sea creature to research; those with the most merit points get to select first, and Agatha fears someone will select her favorite. To her infinite pleasure, however, no one else chooses the anglerfish. No one researches their choice half as well as Agatha May either, and when she presents facts about this particular terror of the deep, everyone is entranced. And her teacher’s praise and encouragement prove to be a reward that will influence her future. Telling any story entirely in rhyme is always a risk, but clever wordplay and significant bounce give this title a true leg up. After all, who can resist such lines as, “ ‘Sorry, did you say a fishing pole?’ / asked Leandra Francesca. / ‘Well, the technical term is / a ‘bulbous esca.’ ” Meanwhile, the book is replete with factual information about anglerfish, even spilling over into additional details and definitions at the end. The satisfaction of seeing Agatha May rewarded for her fixation is rivaled only by Song’s marvelous watercolor embodiment of Agatha May’s untidy, obsessive self. Mrs. Marino is light-skinned, Agatha May is tan-skinned with dark hair, and the class is racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A paean to the up-and-coming chaotic, incipient scientists of the world.