Product Description

It is summer on the lake, and Sara wants to fish with her granddad and his special fishing buddy. She promises that she will keep real quiet so she won’t scare the fish, that she can row a boat without making it turn in circles, and that she can bait a hook . . . maybe. Granddad is convinced and they take a boat out on the water together. There, Sara meets the best fisherman on the lake, learns all of her granddad’s fishing secrets, and creates some of her very own.

Lyrical with touches of spot-on humor, this story captures the fun and loving relationship between a granddaughter and her grandfather, and their interaction with the natural world. Glowingly radiant artwork brings their relationship to life as Sara learns that sometimes the best fishing buddy is not always who you expect!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207828 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3—Sara is visiting her grandparents at their lakeside cottage. When she hears Granddad getting up early in the morning, she jumps up, too, and inquires where he's going. Fishing with his buddy, he says, and Sara convinces him to take her along. As they row across the lake, Sara keeps looking for the buddy, but Granddad just waves to all the other fishermen. She masters her angling skills, with the exception of putting the worm on the hook (she uses a piece of licorice instead). A heron appears and plucks a fish out of the water. Granddad instructs Sara to row over to it and they both start catching fish. When the bird moves to a new location, they follow. Sara realizes that Granddad's fishing buddy is the heron; he stirs up the fish as he wades through the shallows. By the book's end, Granddad has a new fishing buddy: Sara, of course. Done in pencil, watercolor, and gouache, the illustrations are perfect for the tone of the story. The early-morning lake scene is suitably foggy and clears up as the day progresses. The characters, with their bright clothing and smiling faces, stand out nicely from the green and gray tones of the watery backdrops. A pleasing choice for intergenerational sharing.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
When Sara stays with her grandparents at their lakeside cottage, she awakens early and convinces her grandfather that she's old enough to go fishing with him. Curious about his reference to "my fishing buddy," she sits in the rowboat fishing with Granddad until a blue heron lands in the nearby shallows. Wherever the heron moves, that's where Granddad wants to fish, allowing Sara to soon figure out the "buddy's" identity. Dotted with childlike details, such as baiting a hook with a length of red licorice rather than a worm, the story unfolds in a quiet but absorbing way. Jorisch's delicate pencil drawings, washed with watercolors and gouache, create likeable characters in evocative settings. Even as it celebrates the comfortable companionship of Sara and her grandfather, this pleasant picture book also depicts the appeal of fishing, a pastime that often seems static as represented in picture books. Phelan, Carolyn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Mary Quigley lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Stéphane Jorisch lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Customer Reviews

Heartwarming story about a little girl fishing with her grandpa
Fishing stories for little ones are not very common, and "Granddad's Fishing Buddy" nicely addresses this deficiency. It is a simple yet heartwarming story about a little girl who goes on a fishing trip with her grandpa, and is eager to know the identity of Grandpa's yet-to-be seen fishing buddy. When the reader eventually guesses at the identity of the fishing buddy, it is a rather cute revelation. The heartwarming story is enhanced by the beautiful illustrations by Stephane Jorisch. Obviously, this is a great read for grandfather and child, but it is also a perfect read-aloud for preschoolers and up.

Charming!
As a sportsman, I have had a hard time finding books about hunting and fishing for my three-year-old daughter. No luck on a hunting book so far, but this is a great little story about a girl fishing with her granddad. The length of the story is just right, and the artwork is good.

Touching story
Maybe because I had a grandfather that was my buddy, or maybe because the story is cheery and well written--my 5-year-old girl and I loved reading this book together. And now she wants to try fishing with her grandpa. But she says she'll steer clear of the worms too.