“Don’t Trust Fish” by Neil Sharpson is a nature guide gone spectacularly, hilariously wrong—and it is one of the funniest picture books to come along in years.
A Very Urgent Case Against Fish
The book presents its argument with the deadpan seriousness of a nature documentary. Why must you NEVER EVER trust fish? The evidence is damning: they spend all their time underwater where we can’t see them. Some are as big as a bus, and that is not okay. We have no idea what they’re teaching in their “schools.” And—perhaps most troublingly—they are very likely plotting our doom.
Sharpson’s voice is pitch-perfect: authoritative, urgent, and completely ridiculous. The joke works because it commits so fully. This is not a book that winks at you about how silly it is. It presents its case with total conviction, which is exactly what makes it so funny.
Dan Santat Makes It Even Better
Illustrations by two-time Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat are a perfect match for the material. Santat’s fish are rendered with the kind of detail that suggests genuine menace—only for the expressions and situations to undercut that menace completely. The visual comedy is layered and specific, and readers will find new things to laugh at on every page.
Why Absurdist Humor Matters for Young Readers
Picture books that are purely, confidently silly play an important role in early childhood reading. They teach children to recognize and delight in absurdity, to understand that humor can come from the gap between how seriously something is presented and how ridiculous it actually is. “Don’t Trust Fish” is a master class in comedic tone, and it models that reading can be a source of pure, unexpected joy.
It also, incidentally, opens a door to real conversations about fish—because after reading this book, every child will want to know more about what fish actually do down there where we can’t see them.
Perfect For
Pre-K through Grade 2. Class read-alouds (the more dramatic the delivery, the better). Children who love silly humor, animal facts, and books that feel like a comedy special. Fans of Dan Santat’s other work will find this irresistible.