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A great band does more than make music—it makes a difference! This Zebrafish adventure shows that doing good can make a splash and be a rockin’ good time.
Zebrafish has disbanded, at least for the summer, but the ex-band members can still improve the world in their own way. Vita is figuring out how to channel her lazy summer into something positive (with her dog Chimp’s help, of course). Walt and Jay convert an old ice cream truck into an awesomely painted (and fully wired) book mobile. And Plinko and Tanya inspire their campers at Stickleback Arts Camp to seize the day—Tanya takes a special interest in a camper with diabetes who’d rather hang out in the infirmary than participate in camp, while Plinko is preoccupied with his night vision goggles (leading campers to the bathroom night or day!).
Ideally Zebrafish will reunite for the end of summer Strings of Fury concert at the Dunes, but there’s a hitch—Vita refuses to play plastic. This follow-up collaboration between FableVision and Children’s Hospital Boston is as rockin’ as the first.
Zebrafish has disbanded, at least for the summer, but the ex-band members can still improve the world in their own way. Vita is figuring out how to channel her lazy summer into something positive (with her dog Chimp’s help, of course). Walt and Jay convert an old ice cream truck into an awesomely painted (and fully wired) book mobile. And Plinko and Tanya inspire their campers at Stickleback Arts Camp to seize the day—Tanya takes a special interest in a camper with diabetes who’d rather hang out in the infirmary than participate in camp, while Plinko is preoccupied with his night vision goggles (leading campers to the bathroom night or day!).
Ideally Zebrafish will reunite for the end of summer Strings of Fury concert at the Dunes, but there’s a hitch—Vita refuses to play plastic. This follow-up collaboration between FableVision and Children’s Hospital Boston is as rockin’ as the first.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 26, 2023
Review of a diabetic character by a type 1 diabetic reader.
This book was so cute and lighthearted! The art is adorable and I really liked the characters, although it took me a bit to keep up with all of them.
The character with diabetes is a side character, so it’s not prominent, but it’s still given several pages worth of time throughout the book, and it’s beautiful visual representation! There’s very little discussion of what diabetes is or how it affects our lives, but it fits with the story perfectly anyway. I’m very happy.
Scott’s initially shy about his diabetes, but he’s shy with everything else too. He’s seen checking his blood sugar at the camp nurse’s, had a number with a realistic reaction, and shows off his new pump site. He trusts his bag to one of the CITs during an activity, which leads to a slight maturity arc for the CIT. (As a longtime veteran of diabetes camp, it was really weird seeing counselors who don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to t1d! I got a kick out of it.)
He goes low, but it’s no problem at all, and I LOVE that! Blood sugar fluctuations are SO often misconstrued in fiction for drama purposes, and this showed it as a completely normal experience that was easily resolved long before it could become a problem.
It was so nice to see an insulin pump illustrated in a graphic novel. Especially since it’s clearly modeled after Omnipods—podders unite! 😉
My favorite quote from Scott is when he’s inspired to make his camp project:
That whole page is really cute, but Scott really spoke to me in that moment because it’s exactly something that one of my own campers would do. Most of them would, tbh, myself included.
I might have to suggest to the activity director to bring dreamcatcher supplies next year…
I would definitely recommend reading the first book, but you don’t have to. (I didn’t.) Overall, this is an excellent book for kids looking for a little bit of lighthearted t1d rep.
This book was so cute and lighthearted! The art is adorable and I really liked the characters, although it took me a bit to keep up with all of them.
The character with diabetes is a side character, so it’s not prominent, but it’s still given several pages worth of time throughout the book, and it’s beautiful visual representation! There’s very little discussion of what diabetes is or how it affects our lives, but it fits with the story perfectly anyway. I’m very happy.
Scott’s initially shy about his diabetes, but he’s shy with everything else too. He’s seen checking his blood sugar at the camp nurse’s, had a number with a realistic reaction, and shows off his new pump site. He trusts his bag to one of the CITs during an activity, which leads to a slight maturity arc for the CIT. (As a longtime veteran of diabetes camp, it was really weird seeing counselors who don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to t1d! I got a kick out of it.)
He goes low, but it’s no problem at all, and I LOVE that! Blood sugar fluctuations are SO often misconstrued in fiction for drama purposes, and this showed it as a completely normal experience that was easily resolved long before it could become a problem.
It was so nice to see an insulin pump illustrated in a graphic novel. Especially since it’s clearly modeled after Omnipods—podders unite! 😉
My favorite quote from Scott is when he’s inspired to make his camp project:
”It’s supposed to catch nightmares…but it’s too small.”
“For what?”
“Diabetes.”
That whole page is really cute, but Scott really spoke to me in that moment because it’s exactly something that one of my own campers would do. Most of them would, tbh, myself included.
I might have to suggest to the activity director to bring dreamcatcher supplies next year…
I would definitely recommend reading the first book, but you don’t have to. (I didn’t.) Overall, this is an excellent book for kids looking for a little bit of lighthearted t1d rep.
August 26, 2024
I had to look back at my review of the first book before I rated the second one…. And it looks like I feel similarly about this one. I have no idea what this book was about, and as soon as we started seeing some resemblance of a plot the story switched gears, so I have no idea what the main theme was. I’m 3-starring, however, because I appreciate the inclusion of characters with Leukemia and Diabetes.
October 27, 2020
this book is about some children who are at camp, their club name is zebrafish. it was a pretty good book. I picked the book because it had a cool looking cover. the best thing about the book was when they were traveling to camp because it was interesting. there was not anything bad about the book.
July 19, 2022
Another cute book about misfits fitting together. I love the fact they have kids with chronic illnesses int he story without it being the central part of the story. This book was more cohesive than the first one in my opinion. Good book, quick and easy read.
January 10, 2019
Great sequel!
November 3, 2019
Worst band I’ve ever seen or heard. Need to update there selves
June 28, 2021
I reread this book last night because it is a short graphic novel, therefore SUPER easy to read. It's cute, it reminds me of when I was younger and read this, and which pages I would pore over. It is pore or pour here? unclear. anyways there's not much to say.
August 9, 2016
In this graphic novel, members of a school rock band split up for the summer, with some going to a creative arts camp as CITs, and others remaining in town. Some paint and run the library bookmobile for the summer, and one learns a little about cancer studies and therapy dogs. At camp, there are crafts, welding, and trips to the beach. One CIT befriends a boy with diabetes. At the end of the summer they get back together.
I’m scratching my head over this one. On the one hand, it has some good things: multiracial characters whose race is not the main focus of the book, and characters with health issues who are coping with it daily. On the other hand, I could neither tell the 10+ characters apart, nor dredge up any vestige of a plot. It seemed somewhat episodic, but even the episodes barely had plots--the strongest one was about getting the insulin pump wet and making spoon sculptures, but that’s a pretty minor plot. It more seemed just like a record of various summers, with only timeframe to give it any structure. I don’t know. Did I miss something?
In terms of the art, I thought it worked pretty well. I liked the multiple perspectives shown, and that pages were laid out differently. When they put the dialogue in differently-colored balloons to differentiate the speakers, I really appreciated that, though sometimes I still read things in the wrong order (and I’ve read lots of manga, so I’m not a novice graphic novel reader).
I’m scratching my head over this one. On the one hand, it has some good things: multiracial characters whose race is not the main focus of the book, and characters with health issues who are coping with it daily. On the other hand, I could neither tell the 10+ characters apart, nor dredge up any vestige of a plot. It seemed somewhat episodic, but even the episodes barely had plots--the strongest one was about getting the insulin pump wet and making spoon sculptures, but that’s a pretty minor plot. It more seemed just like a record of various summers, with only timeframe to give it any structure. I don’t know. Did I miss something?
In terms of the art, I thought it worked pretty well. I liked the multiple perspectives shown, and that pages were laid out differently. When they put the dialogue in differently-colored balloons to differentiate the speakers, I really appreciated that, though sometimes I still read things in the wrong order (and I’ve read lots of manga, so I’m not a novice graphic novel reader).
June 25, 2013
I read the first Zebrafish book and while it didn't particularly grab me, I saw some potential so was pleasantly surprised to see this sequel come up three whole years later. Would it be three times better? Hardly. However, I thought it was a fairly well done story along the same vein as the first one. Teens learning to deal with being teens and added issues including one medical-related. The character from the first book is back but in remission and this time in the medical hut at summer camp she meets a diabetic boy who wears a pump of insulin on his stomach which he controls with a remote device and caries around in a fanny pack. These issues are added to the everyday camp issues of being councilors-in-training, summer jobs with the bookmobile, creating spoon art sculptures, saving wildlife from traps and eventually gaining a new member for their band. A quick easy-breezy read. Middle graders should identify, but the characters don't go beneath the surface and too much stuff was happening that I couldn't really care about any one issue/event enough.
December 28, 2017
I reread Zebrafish last summer after having read it many years prior, and it was only then that I found out it had a sequel. Since Zebrafish was a staple of my childhood, I decided to catch up now.
I liked that the sequel introduced new characters in addition to the old, though I felt they weren't as developed as in the first book. The writing and art style were both still cute - but I felt more unsatisfied with the ending this time. I guess it goes with the glimpse into their lives, and the slice-of-life summer vibe, but the plotlines felt more fleeting than before. Maybe it was because there were more characters - more storylines to tie up.
I thought this was generally a delightful followup, and while not as memorable as its predecessor, it was nice to get an unexpected sequel to something from my childhood.
I liked that the sequel introduced new characters in addition to the old, though I felt they weren't as developed as in the first book. The writing and art style were both still cute - but I felt more unsatisfied with the ending this time. I guess it goes with the glimpse into their lives, and the slice-of-life summer vibe, but the plotlines felt more fleeting than before. Maybe it was because there were more characters - more storylines to tie up.
I thought this was generally a delightful followup, and while not as memorable as its predecessor, it was nice to get an unexpected sequel to something from my childhood.
October 21, 2013
I read the first one a while back, but don't really remember it and maybe that would have made this one a little better, but I thought this was a terrible graphic novel. It attempts to deal with some really good and heavy subjects, but the story switches between the different storylines way to quickly and doesn't develop any of them well enough to have any sort of impact. I wouldn't recommend this.
February 25, 2015
Nothing about this book indicates that it is a sequel, but it is definitely not effective as a stand-alone because it never bothers to explain the relationships between the characters or why we're supposed to care about them. The story follows a bunch of kids around on their different summer breaks, and nothing particularly interesting ever happens.
July 21, 2016
The different stories all going on at the same time were very disjointed and didn't really develop the characters. I feel like I would have to read this again just to get a sense of each person and his/her role in moving the plot along.
January 3, 2016
I found this graphic novel confusing. There were many different characters in many different settings. I didn't feel like they came together as a cohesive whole.
July 1, 2014
Not as good as the original Zebrafish, but then again, what is? I'm not sure if it would be a stand alone read.
April 7, 2017
Yep. Just as amazing as the first. Fast paced and quick read, but still packs all the punches without being too much in the feels zone. I like it. I want another.
June 18, 2016
Full disclosure, I abandoned halfway through.
September 26, 2016
Very surface-level story that touches on kids with diabetes. This is not the first book in the series, so perhaps if I had read the other one first, this all would have made more sense.
July 8, 2016
No real plot, but nice artwork.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews