Ten Sly Piranhas: A Counting Story in Reverse--(A Tale of Wickedness--and Worse!)

A school of ten sly piranhas gradually dwindles as they waylay and eat each other

PreSchool-Grade 1-A story in rhyme of ten bright pink piranhas that, one by one, "with a gulp and a gurgle" outwit and devour one another until a crocodile comes along and "...then there were none." The lilting cadence of the anticipatory story makes it fun to read and hear. The right-hand pages of watercolor illustrations complement the lines of text on their facing pages. Their minute detailing of pen and ink outlining and crosshatching, depict the twisting flora and colorful fauna of the piranhas' jungle environment. Bright but not garish, they show both the shoreline inhabitants and the river teeming with turtles, piranhas-and crocs! Frogs, snakes, toucans, and anteaters, too, abound. White spaces frame each picture, drawing attention to the tumbling, intertwining scene. A reverse counting book for voracious readers.
Mary Lou Budd, Milford South Elementary School, OH
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The long subtitle--``A Counting Story in Reverse (A Tale of Wickedness--and Worse!)''--explains it all: Ten toothy fuchsia piranhas (``Each a slippery schemer, with a dozen dirty tricks'') ogle and menace and, one by one, devour each other; the last is snapped up by a crocodile. The violence here is considerable, but tastefully implicit; the beady-eyed Amazonians in Chess's brightly tropical river scenes (intriguingly displayed in over/under cross sections) simply disappear, while the author also leaves their gruesome demises to the imagination. Wise's rhymed verse has a catchy rhythmical beat that propels it as persistently as the predatory fishes' hunger. Readers of a certain sort will relish this mightily. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.