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Zebrafish

Zebrafish
Illustrated by: Peter H. Reynolds
This edition: eBook, 128 pages
Ages: 10 - 14
Availability: This title is temporarily out of stock, please check back soon.
List Price: $7.99
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Awards and Nominations

  • CBC Children's Choice Book Award Finalist
  • IRA/CBC Children's Choices
  • NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts

Description

Making the world a better place totally rocks! Meet Zebrafish, a garage band with a lofty goal.

Zebrafish is not exactly your typical garage band—especially because only one member can play an instrument! But that doesn’t mean that Vita, Tanya, Walt, Plinko, and Jay aren’t dreaming big…or at least stumbling towards a modest success. With a little creativity and out-the-box thinking (and some high-level computer tinkering) this garage band is going virtual—and they’re learning that schoolyard fame is a great way to bring in awareness (and donations) for an important cause.
This fully illustrated, highly visual novel is a multimedia project complete with webisodes and online components like games and websites. It’s being supported and publicized by Children’s Hospital of Boston and shows kids that they can make a positive impact on their world by finding a cause they believe in and giving charity work their own personal spin.
Related multimediaclose x

Video

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    1. Zebrafish Book Trailer
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    2. Zebrafish: Behind The Scenes
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See more multimedia
Several friends, led by the purple-haired Vita, try to figure out how to make their band work despite the

fact that no one knows how to play anything. But when Vita, whose older brother is a cancer researcher,

learns that band-member Tanya has leukemia, she begins to wonder how their upcoming performance

might be put to a greater good. Emerson’s graphic novel (developed with Peter Reynolds’ FableVision

media company) succeeds on several levels: the characters are credibly diverse in personality and

appearance, and their individual stories are carefully twisted into a full and complex story arc.

Additionally, information about leukemia’s physical toll on a young patient and research methods to

combat it are integrated cleanly and without didacticism. Full-color panels vary in size and shape, with

scenes moving from the stage to a soda shop to the back corridors of the hospital. Gentler and for a

younger crowd than Judd Winick’s Pedro and Me (2000), this bouncy cartoon story nonetheless mines

equally serious territory, and stands a good chance of finding wide popularity to boot.

-- Francisca Goldsmith, BOOKLIST, March 15, 2010
Vita is having a hard time making friends and meeting people at her new school until the day she holds auditions for her rock band Zebrafish. While she has big hopes and dreams for the group, she’s disappointed with the kids’ musical talents. However, she finds skills and abilities in these new bandmates, and they all work together to create a music video. As the band plans and strategizes, Vita can’t help but be disappointed that one member continually misses meetings. Then she learns that Tanya has leukemia, and Zebrafish holds a fundraising concert to help the hospital get the medical equipment it needs. Illustrations vary greatly in size and color; some are full page, some are full spreads, and others appear in panels. All are uncluttered and easy to follow. Clear and sharply inked, the color art makes a fine contrast between light and dark scenes and creates balance and tone throughout. This book will speak to children about fighting for a cure/treatment for cancer and shows the value of involvement in this important issue.
-- SLJ, May 2010