REVIEW IN KIRKUS OF FISH IN SCHOOL: How Kids are Helping Trout

I am so pleased with this excellent review from Kirkus of my new book FISH IN SCHOOL.  

FISH IN SCHOOL
How Kids Are Helping Trout
Author: Caroline Arnold
Photographer: Caroline Arnold

Review Issue Date: December 1, 2026
Online Publish Date: October 28, 2026
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Pages: 40
Price ( Library Ed ): $33.32
Publication Date: March 2, 2027
ISBN ( Library Ed ): 9798348056179
Section: Children's

In a project that brings nature into the classroom, California schoolchildren raise steelhead trout from eggs and then release the hatchlings into the wild.

With just the right level of detail to encourage other teachers and students to undertake similar class projects, Arnold describes how eggs donated by a nearby fish hatchery are first placed in an aquarium kitted out with a cooler to maintain the proper temperature. The children carefully attend to the resultant hatchlings over 10 weeks as they mature from alevin to two-inch fry and are then released into a river down which they will travel to the ocean. Along with describing a visit to the hatchery, Arnold lays out the life cycle of the trout, which are closely related to salmon and likewise born in rivers to which the few that survive their many predators return to spawn. She concludes with more information about the specific program she profiles here, as well as further details about the trout’s life cycle and suggestions for other conservation initiatives such as fish ladders for dammed or obstructed spawning rivers. In Arnold’s photos, close-ups of the necessary gear and of the fish at different stages of development alternate with glimpses of light-skinned, racially diverse young students from several schools looking interested and involved.

A model for studying and conserving wildlife, simple and safe. (glossary, range map, further reading) (Nonfiction. 6-8)