Poppy and her father watch from their paddle boat as the moonfish leads a bright stream of tiny silver fish out from the reeds.

A PICTURE BOOK

Poppy and the Moonfish Window

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Poppy and the Moonfish Window

Poppy sits up in her cream bed and looks at a round porthole, where a large silver fish with a glowing moon-shaped spot hovers over the dark river.

Poppy lived on a small houseboat. Beside her bed was a round window looking over the dark river. Every night, she counted the lights on the far bank.

One night, something silver bumped the glass. Bump. Bump. Bump.

Poppy sat up. Outside swam a fish as wide as a dinner plate. A bright, moon-shaped spot shone on its side.

“Why are you bumping my window?” Poppy asked.

Poppy in a yellow raincoat stands in a wooden paddle boat beside her father on the houseboat deck as the moonfish swims toward candle boats caught in tall reeds.

The moonfish opened and closed its mouth. Then it flicked its tail toward the riverbank. Tiny paper boats were tangled in the reeds. Each boat held a little candle, wet and dark.

“Oh,” said Poppy. “You can’t get through the reeds.”

Poppy pulled on her yellow raincoat. Her father joined her at the back deck, and together they lowered their little wooden paddle boat into the water.

The moonfish glided ahead, its silver scales flashing. Poppy paddled slowly after it.

Father leans from the paddle boat and uses a long hook to lift strings from the reeds while Poppy watches and the moonfish waits nearby.

At the reeds, Poppy saw the problem. The paper boats had floated down from a party upstream. Their strings were wrapped around the thick green stems.

Poppy did not pull. The boats might tear, and the reeds might shake. She held the paddle boat still while her father used a long hook to lift one string at a time.

Plip! One boat came free.

Plip! Another boat came free.

Nearby, the moonfish swam small, bright circles.

Poppy leans over her small wooden boat as the moonfish swims through an open channel between tall reeds; empty paper boats float on the moonlit water.

At last, the final string slipped loose. The empty paper boats drifted away on the current. The reeds stood straight again.

A clear path opened between them.

The moonfish swam into it, then stopped. It turned back to Poppy and flicked its tail.

From the reeds behind it came a hundred tiny silver fish. They had been hiding there all along! Together, they darted through the open path, making the river sparkle like a moving sky.

Poppy laughed very softly. Only her father heard.

Back in bed, Poppy raises one finger beside her round window while a moon-shaped glow sinks into the river beyond the distant town lights.

Back in bed, Poppy looked through her round window. Far out on the river, one moon-shaped spot glowed, then dipped beneath the water.

Poppy counted the lights on the far bank. Then she counted one more.