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Tyler is a little bass fish, who lives in Lake Erie. One day, when he plays Fish Tag with his friend Jimmy, they venture a little further than usual from the playing grounds. Tyler discovers that in one part of the lake, the water is brown, and there are some barrels full of toxic waste that have been dumped there—an unfortunate and sometimes forgotten legacy of the lake. Tyler and Jimmy ponder what they should do to save Lake Erie from the threat of the poison that is spreading out from the barrels. They spring into action and get help from their other fish friends and the seagulls. Together, they get the attention of nearby humans on the boat, who send divers to bring up the toxic waste.
This is an imaginatively-written children's picture book, with bright, colorful illustrations by Sandra Burns. The text is written in a large print, perfect for the eyes of the young readers. The book received a Reader's Favorite prize in 2014. Compared to the multitude of other children's picture books about fish on the market, such as The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna, or the The Three Little Fish And The Big Bad Shark by Will Grace and Ken Geist, this book has a strong environmental message for young readers, so they can learn about the animal kingdom around them. This is an insightful book for young children and for parents to read out loud to kids, and it could serve as a good learning tool in the classroom.