Don’t Eat Eustace
by Lian Cho; illus. by the author
Primary    Harper/HarperCollins    48 pp.
10/25    9780063321847    $19.99

Bear’s life as a lighthouse keeper is marked by solitude and routine; each day their chores culminate in eating breakfast (alone) and heading to the shore for a little fishing. This morning’s catch of the day, however, is a bit of a surprise, and one that lands more than a little color into Bear’s otherwise drab world. Tucked inside a rainbow-colored patchwork sail is an equally multihued fish, who immediately introduces himself as Eustace and begs not to be eaten. Bear’s deadpan response (“Of course not. I would never”) seems contradicted by their actions, which include gently placing Eustace in a pot, consulting a recipe for fish stew, and adding some lovely vegetables. But Eustace is as inventive as he is charming, and when a series of animals in need of help swings by, Eustace convinces Bear to work together to repurpose the sail—and make friends along the way. Cho’s colored-pencil and gouache art reflects the vibrancy that Eustace’s arrival brings to Bear’s world and gives the animal characters plenty of humor and personality; the goofy grin on formerly dour Bear’s face after they don their own patchwork garment is worth the price of admission. This lighthearted story combines elements of big-fish tale with contemporary tongue-in-cheek sensibility.

From the November/December 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.