about the book
Fang is a ginormous gray shark with lots and lots of razor sharp chompers! Nugget is an itty-bitty teeny-tiny tasty minnow. Amazingly, these two friends have been pals for quite a while, swimming high, swimming low, playing in the sea weed, and having lots of fun together.
They are inseparable until Nugget is old enough for minnow school.
There he is shocked to learn that sharks cannot be trusted, and “Hellooo, sharks eat minnows!” Obviously sharks and minnows can never be friends, Nugget explains to Fang. The two must part ways!
Fang is a vegetarian and believes that “Fish are friends, not food.” Now he is devastated and so lonely.
He decides to win his friend back, but his plans are, well, poorly planned! He dresses up in a ridiculous mermaid outfit to prove that he is not the least bit scary. And he didn’t think it through when he sent a dinner invitation to Nugget. The tiny minnow had to wonder what Fang planned to serve! When nothing works, Fang retreats to the very depth of the great big sea and mopes in the dark waters.
But then he realizes that his friend is part of the “catch of the day!” Using his great big shiny white teeth, can he save his friend and the rest of the minnows too?
about the author
Tammi Sauer grew up on a farm outside Victoria, Kansas. She spent her time swindling her younger brother and sister out of their spending money, gathering eggs, and chasing pigs back into their pens.
Tammi inherited her sense of humor from her mother, who was the best at unexpected zingers.
One day at Kansas State University, Dr. Marjorie Hancock took Tammi aside after class and told her that she had talent and should pursue publication. Always a writer of diaries and letters, she hadn’t even considered writing as a career.
Tammi’s first book didn’t sell, nor did the second or the third. But she kept on writing as she taught summer school, preschool, and middle school and worked as a library media specialist. Finally she published a book, and her career as an author took off. She especially likes to “amp up” the humor in her books, looking for the funny and the weird.
Living in Edmond, Oklahoma, busy with a husband (childhood sweetheart), a daughter (future veterinarian), a son (future ninja), a dog, two geckos, and a tank full of fish.
Tammi writes only about four hours a day. She says as a writer, she spends an awfully lot of time waiting, wondering, worrying, and hoping!
In her spare time she is “addicted to checking her e-mail.” She’d love to hear how you like her book. Write her at [email protected].
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Got Interviews
Also by Tammi Sauer:
Princess in Training. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2012.
Bawk & Roll. Sterling. 2012.
Oh, Nuts! Bloomsbury USA Children. 2012.
Me Want Pet! Paula Wiseman. 2012.
Mr. Duck Means Business. Paula Wiseman. 2011.
Mostly Monsterly. Paula Wiseman. 2010.
No Baloney! Dutton Juvenile. 2009.
Chicken Dance. Sterling. 2009.
Cowboy Camp. Sterling. 2005.
about the illustrator
It is obvious that Michael Slack is an imaginative and zany sort of guy. All it takes is a glance at his illustrations full of silly creatures!
As a kid Michael was plagued by weird chronic nightmares, especially of a large swampy thing terrorizing a mall. In the dreams, no one ever got hurt, but there was a lot neat mangled stuff—and he was left craving a pet Creature from the Black Lagoon. Since his mother banned slimy things, he created his own creepy world. He began by drawing mummies he copied from library books.
After taking a summer art program at Cal-Arts, Michael decided to enroll at the San Francisco Art Institute, earning a fine arts degree in painting. There he painted large abstract oils and moody pictures filled with strange creatures.
Falling back on his love of monsters, he landed a job creating and animating characters for computer games. A few years later he went freelance, opening his company Slackart. His character-filled humorous art work appears in books and magazines, and on television, children’s products and apparel. His fine art pieces are exhibited in the U.S. and in Europe.
Michael currently lives in Lafayette, California, with his family. He loves to travel, is a budding botanist, and hopes one day to shake the hand of a chimp!
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator biography: Lerner
Illustrator interview: Little Chimp Society
Also illustrated by Michael Slack:
Pass It On by Marilyn Sadler. Blue Apple Books. 2012.
Scapegoat : The Story of a Goat Named Cat and a Chewed-Up Coat by Dean Hale. Bloomsbury USA. 2011.
My Life as a Chicken by Ellen A. Kelley. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2007.
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