The Jewel Fish of Karnak

Gr 1—4—In lieu of punishment for thievery, the Cat Pharaoh orders Jackal and Ibis to bring back a stolen Jewel Fish from Karnak. She warns them to take nothing but the magical fish, and to be sure it does not get wet. Their search is successful, but the weight of the extra treasures they take causes water to flow into their coracle, soaking the Jewel Fish, which becomes alive and dives overboard. Underwater, hundreds of look-alikes befuddle the duo, who are sentenced to keep on fishing, "hoping to catch the one fish they needed from among all the glittering treasures of the Nile." The tale ends with a picture of their statues, and Base explains that they may fish forever, unless readers can help them. At this point, Cat Pharaoh directs youngsters to the author's website for help solving the movable puzzle at the back and to learn how to capture the fish. Base's illustrations, a mixture of fantastic creatures in realistic settings are, as always, superb, and Pharaoh's classic makeup is lovely. The richly textured spreads are accompanied on the bottom by aged and broken tiles of hieroglyphs, mimicking the tale above. Endpapers are perfect reproductions of grainy stone, and 17 fast-fact blocks about jewels, the felucca and coracle, and other items of the time appear on the back of the jacket.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA