Review of “Jonty and the Giant Pike” by Tuula Pere, PhD

Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)

Jonty and the Giant Pike is an exciting and thought-provoking children's book by Tuula Pere.

Jonty is a little boy who loves to go fishing with his dad!

One day, his ambitious and industrious dad decides that it would be nice to have a pond right near the house, so he starts a building project! Jonty is delighted and excited by the prospect of having his own fish pond, especially since the lake freezes up, limiting the amount of fishing they can do there.

In a sense, it actually reminded us a little bit of Ronnie's Pool by Lindsay Ann Frank, a story about characters building a pool in their back yard.

In this case, Jonty and his dad want an artificial pond where they can breed and raise rainbow trout. They go to the fish farm and gather a school of baby rainbow trout. Jonty is overjoyed (and a little anxious) about having so many baby rainbow trout in his back yard!

The rainbow trout grow day by day, but Jonty becomes impatient. He wants to fish for them when they're full-grown. His impatience leads him back to the dock where—in the book's biggest twist—he catches a giant pike (a big fish) with the help of his mother.

However, when they've just about gotten the giant pike home, it escapes into the pond full of baby rainbow trout! Oh, no!

Jonty and his dad worry that the giant pike will eat all of the rainbow trout. The dad tries desperately to catch it with a net, but to no avail. The giant pike joins the pond community.

Interestingly, Jonty becomes very attached to the giant pike (or the idea of him) and starts to worry about him too. He worries that he'll eventually run out of food and company, becoming bored and lonely. He worries that the giant pike may miss being home in the lake with the other pikes.

We did not expect that!

The giant pike actually becomes the most compelling and interesting character in the book, which is interesting because he's almost introduced to us like a villain or antagonist—a force that might destroy the ecosystem of the pond by eating the other fish. In a nice turn, the giant pike becomes an extremely sympathetic and relatable character who just wants to be free.

His battle and quest for freedom culminates in numerous escape attempts, including a crucial one from a large plastic water container when the pond is drained.

What a thought-provoking story!

Check it out on Amazon!